March 9
Today in America's Present Past
1454 | Amerigo Vespucci, the cartographer after which “America” is named, was born.
1791| Physician George Hayward was born.
1798 | Dr George Balfour became the first naval surgeon in the US Navy.
1815 | SCOTUS: Justice David Davis was born.
1820 | SCOTUS: Justice Samuel Blatchford was born.
1824 | Entrepreneur and educator Leland Stanford was born.
1841 | SCOTUS: Court rules kidnapped slaves from the Spanish schooner the Amistad are free.
1856 | Entertainer Eddie Foy Sr. was born.
1856 | Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded at the University of Alabama.
1858 | Albert Potts patented the street mailbox.
1862 | Civil War: USS Monitor and CSS Merrimack battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1864 | Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant was named Commanding General of the Union Army.
1895 | Physician Rebecca Lee Crumpler died.
1904 | Engineer Paul Kilpsch was born.
1916 | Mexican General Francisco Pancho Villa invaded the United States.
1918 | Author Mickey Spillane was born.
1925 Painter Willard Metcalf died.
1926 | Civil Rights: Bertha Landes elected the first woman mayor of Seattle and first female mayor of any major US city.
1943 | Chess master Bobby Fischer was born.
1945 | WWII: Operation Meeinghouse the fire bombing of Tokyo began.
1947 | Suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt died.
1950 | Outlaw Willie Sutton robed Manufacturers Trust Company of $64,000 in NYC.
1951 | Journalist Michael Kinsley was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1955 | Explorer Matthew Henson died.
1959 | Children’s doll “Barbie” debuted.
1962 | Vietnam War: The U.S. deployed “advisors” to South Vietnam.
1964 | SCOTUS: Court issued Times vs Sullivan.
1974 | WWII: Last known Japanese solider (Hiroo Onoda) surrendered.
1974 | Researcher Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. died
1984 | The Competitive Enterprise Institute was founded.
1989 | Congress: U.S. Senate rejected John Tower nomination as Defense Secretary.
1994 | Poet Charles Bukowski died.
1995 | Entrepreneur Edward Bernays died.
1996 | Comedian George Burns died.
1997 | Entertainer “Notorious B.I.G.” murdered.
2005 | Singer Chris LeDoux died.
2007 | The US Justice Department released an internal audit that found that the FBI had acted illegally in its use of the Patriot Act to obtain personal information about US citizens.
2011 | Journalist David S. Broder died.
2011 | Space Shuttle Discovery completed its final mission.