March 12

Events

• 515 BC - Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
• 1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
• 1894 - For the first time Coca-Cola is sold in bottles.
• 1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts) are founded.
• 1913 - Canberra becomes the capital of Australia
• 1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam[?] fails killing 400.
• 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march protest march to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt
• 1933 - Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats[?]."
• 1938 - Anschluss: Germany annexes Austria
• 1940 - Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceeding almost all of Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population were immediately evacuated.
• 1947 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
• 1951 - The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the country for the first time.
• 1968 - Mauritius achieves independence
• 1987 - Les Miserables[?] opens on Broadway.
• 1992 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth.
• 1993 - Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
• 1993 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
• 1994 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell[?], previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
• 1994 - The Church of England ordains its first female priests
• 1997 - Mikail Markhasev[?] is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby[?].
• 1999 - former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO.
• 2002 - In Texas, Andrea Yates[?] is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
• 2003 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia assassinated in Belgrade.

Births

• 1607 - Paul Gerhardt, hymnist (+ 1676)
• 1806 - Jane Pierce[?], First Lady
• 1831 - Clement Studebaker[?], automobile pioneer
• 1896 - Sir John Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada
• 1824 - Gustav Kirchhoff, physicist, lends his name to Kirchhoff's Laws (+ 1887)
• 1863 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet (+ 1938)
• 1881 - Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic (+ 1938)
• 1888 - Vaslav Nijinsky, ballet dancer (+ 1950)
• 1912 - Irving Layton[?], poet
• 1921 - Giovanni Agnelli, manager of Fiat
• 1921 - Gordon MacRae[?], singer, actor (+ 1986)
• 1922 - Jack Kerouac, writer (+ 1969)
• 1923 - Wally Schirra[?], astronaut
• 1928 - Edward Albee, dramatist
• 1932 - Andrew Young, civil rights activist, politician, ambassador to the United Nations
• 1940 - Al Jarreau[?], singer
• 1946 - Liza Minnelli, singer and actress
• 1948 - James Taylor, musician
• 1953 - Ron Jeremy, pornographic film actor
• 1953 - Carl Hiaasen, author
• 1957 - Steve Harris[?], musician ("Iron Maiden")

Deaths

• 1507 - Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI
• 1889 - Emperor Johannes IV of Ethiopia[?]
• 1925 - Sun Yat Sen, Chinese revolutionary, politician
• 1935 - Michel Pupin[?], telephone pioneer
• 1937 - Charles-Marie Widor, organist and composer
• 1944 - Werner Drechsler[?], of U-118[?]
• 1945 - Anne Frank, diarist
• 1955 - Charlie Parker, jazz saxophonist
• 1998 - Beatrice Wood, artist/ceramist
• 1999 - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, violinist
• 2001 - Morton Downey, Jr., television personality
• 2001 - Robert Ludlum, author of spy novels
• 2003 - Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist
• 2003 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia

Holidays and observances

• Ancient Latvia - Gregoru Diena observed
• Mauritius - National Day

March 11 - March 13 - February 12 - April 12 - more historical anniversaries