March 1
Today in America's Present Past
1692 | Civil Rights: Salem Witch Trials of Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn began.
1732 | SCOTUS: Justice William Cushing was born.
1780 | Civil Rights: Pennsylvania outlawed slavery.
1781 | Congress: The Articles of Confederation were ratified.
1790 | Congress: The first U.S. Census was authorized.
1792 | Congress: The Presidential Succession Act was passed.
1803 | Statehood: Ohio was granted statehood. (Although approved by Congress and signed by the President in February, a date wasn’t affirmed until retroactive legislation in 1953.)
1841 | Politician Blanche Kelso Bruce was born.
1845 | POTUS: President Tyler authorized annexation of the Republic of Texas. He signed the legislation bypassing the two-thirds Senate majority required for a Treaty.
1847 | Civil Rights: Michigan became the first English-speaking jurisdiction to ban the death penalty.
1848 | Sculptor August Saint-Gaudens was born.
1867 | Statehood: Nebraska was granted statehood.
1868 | America’s first female FBI Agent (in 1922), Alaska Davidson, was born.
1872 | POTUS: Republican President Grant signed legislation making Yellowstone the nation’s (and world’s) first National Park.
1873 | E. Remington & Sons became the first to mass-produce a typewriter signing a contract with inventors (Sholes and Glidden).
1875 | POTUS: Republican President Grant signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (later deemed unconstitutional in 1883).
1893 | Congress: Diplomatic Appropriation Act authorized the rank of U.S. Ambassador.
1904 | Entertainer Glenn Miller was born.
1909 | The University of Minnesota created the first nursing college.
1910 | The nation’s worst avalanche near Steven’s Pass in Washington killed nearly 100 people.
1912 | U.S. Army Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from an airplane. (This is disputed by some as occurring on March 10.)
1912 | Civil Rights: New York City appointed the first female detective, Isabella Goodwin.
1913 | Novelist Ralph Ellison was born.
1914 | Broadcaster Harry Caray was born.
1916 | WWI: Germany began attacking U.S. ships abroad.
1917 | The first U.S. land bank was chartered.
1917 | Entertainer Dinah Shore was born.
1917 | WWI: The U.S. released the “Zimmermann Telegram” text, disclosing Germany’s attempt to bribe Mexico for support.
1917 | Poet Robert Lowell was born.
1920 | Poet Howard Nemerov was born.
1921 | Poet Richard Wilbur was born.
1927 | Entertainer Harry Belafonte was born.
1927 | Judge Robert Bork was born.
1932 | The “Lindbergh Kidnapping” occurred.
1935 | Actor Robert Conrad was born.
1936 | Boulder (now Hoover) Damn completed.
1941 | The first commercial FM radio station started broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee.
1945 | WWII: U.S. forces liberate Monchengladbach.
1947 | The International Monetary Fund launched.
1954 | Entertainer Ron Howard was born.
1954 | War on Terror: Puerto Rican terrorists committed a mass shooting at the U.S. Capitol wounding five congressmen.
1954 | Cold War: The U.S. detonated a thermonuclear weapon (Castle Bravo) at Bikini Atoll. It was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States.
1961 | POTUS: Democrat President Kennedy created the Peace Corps.
1962 | American Airlines 707 crashed in Jamaica Bay, New York.
1962 | The first “Kmart” opened in Garden City, Michigan.
1967 | Congress: Representative Adam Clayton Powell was expelled for corruption. Later, SCOTUS overturned this ruling that Congress cannot exclude members who meet constitutional requirements.
1970 | US commercial whale hunting ended.
1971 | Congress: There was a bomb attack on the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists the Weather Underground.
1974 | POTUS: A Grand Jury indicted seven presidential aides.
1987 | Entertainer Kesha was born.
1991 | Gulf War: The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait reopened.
1991 | Inventor Edwin Land died.
1994 | Congress: The U.S. Senate rejected a Balance Budget Constitutional Amendment.
2002 | War on Terror: Operation Anaconda began in Afghanistan.
2003 | The U.S. Customs and Secret Service moved under Homeland Security.
2012 | Journalist Andrew Breitbart died.
2016 | Actress Martha Wright died.
2020 | Entrepreneur Jack Welch died.
2024 | Designer Iris Apfel died.