March 8

Events

• 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but latter on May 15 confirms the discovery).
• 1702 - Anne becomes Queen of Great Britain
• 1782 - In Ohio the Gnadenhutten massacre[?] of Native Americans takes place in which 29 men, 27 women, and 34 children were killed by white militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by another Native American group.
• 1862 - American Civil War: The iron-clad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) is launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
• 1911 - International Women's Day[?] is celebrated for the first time
• 1917 - The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
• 1921 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato[?] is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
• 1936 - The first stock car[?] race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida.
• 1942 - World War II: The Dutch surrender to Japanese forces on Java.
• 1942 - World War II: Japan captures Rangoon, Burma.
• 1943 - World War II: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a battle that will last five days.
• 1948 - The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violated the Constitution.
• 1950 - The Soviet Union claims to have an atomic bomb.
• 1957 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal
• 1961 - Max Conrad[?] circumnavigates the earth in eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes setting a new world record.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
• 1966 - Vietnam War: Australia announces it was going to substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam.
• 1971 - Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali in the first of three epic bouts. Frazier defends the world Heavyweight[?] title in a star-studded Madison Square Garden.
• 1972 - The Goodyear[?] blimp flies for the first time
• 1974 - Charles de Gaulle Airport[?] opens in Paris, France
• 1983 - President Reagan calls the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire".
• 1988 - Two United States Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell[?], Kentucky killing 17 servicemen.
• 1999 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh.

Births

• 1714 - Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, composer, not to be confused with his father Johann Sebastian Bach (+ 1788)
• 1783 - Hannah Van Buren[?], First Lady
• 1841 - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Supreme Court justice (+ 1935)
• 1859 - Kenneth Grahame, author (+ 1932)
• 1879 - Otto Hahn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1944 (+ 1968)
• 1904 - Victor de Kowa[?], actor (+ 1973)
• 1908 or 1909 or 1911 - Claire Trevor[?], actress
• 1915 - Tapio Rautavaara, athlete, actor, singer
• 1921 - Cyd Charisse[?], actress, dancer
• 1922 - Heinar Kipphardt[?], dramatist, lyricist, narrator (+ 1922)
• 1923 - Walter Jens[?], writer
• 1943 - Lynn Redgrave, actress
• 1945 - Micky Dolenz, actor, director, musica ("The Monkees")
• 1945 - Anselm Kiefer[?], painter
• 1947 - Carole Bayer Sager[?], composer
• 1948 - Gary Numan, singer
• 1959 - Aidan Quinn[?], actor
• 1976 - Freddie Prinze Jr.[?], actor

Deaths

• 1702 - King William III of England
• 1874 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States
• 1930 - William Howard Taft, President of the United States, Chief Justice of the United States
• 1941 - Sherwood Anderson[?], author
• 1942 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player.
• 1971 - Harold Lloyd, actor
• 1973 - Ron Pigpen McKernan of the Grateful Dead
• 1975 - George Stevens, director, producer, cinematographer
• 1983 - William Walton, composer
• 1992 - Red Callender[?], composer
• 1993 - Billy Eckstine, jazz musician
• 1998 - Ray Nitschke[?], American football star
• 1999 - Joe DiMaggio, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 2003 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St John of God[?].
• In many countries it is "International Women's Day[?]", the anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire[?] (Boston, 1908), where 129 women lost their lives while on strike.

March 7 - March 9 - February 8 - April 8 - more historical anniversaries