March 9

Events

• 1841 - The United States Supreme Court rules in the Amistad case that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into slavery illegally.
• 1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces under General Winfield Scott invade Mexico near Vera Cruz.
• 1862 - American Civil War: The first battle between two ironclad warships[?] - In a five-hour battle near Hampton Roads, Virginia the USS Monitor fights the CSS Virginia to a draw.
• 1916 - Pancho Villa leads 1,500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 17.
• 1924 - Italy annexes Fiume[?]
• 1933 - Great Depression: The United States Congress begins its first 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
• 1945 - World War II: American B-29 bombers attack Japan with incendiary bombs[?].
• 1954 - Mccarthyism: CBS broadcasts the See It Now[?] episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," produced by Edward R. Murrow.
• 1959 - The Barbie doll debuts
• 1964 - The first Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.
• 1967 - Josef Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.
• 1975 - Construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline[?] begins.
• 1977 - Appoximetely a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims take over three buildings in Washington, DC, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends two days later.
• 1986 - United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.
• 1989 - A strike forces financially-troubled Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy.
• 1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States[?], becoming the first female and Hispanic to serve in that position.
• 1990 - Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Clyde Wells[?] confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord[?], effectively killing the Accord.
• 1991 - Massive demonstrations are held against Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. Two people are killed and tanks are in the streets.
• 1993 - Rodney King testifies at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California police officers accused of violating King's civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.

Births

• 1451 - Amerigo Vespucci, voyager and cartographer (+ 1512)
• 1697 - Friederike Caroline Neuber[?], actress (+ 1760)
• 1749 - Honore Mirabeau, politician (+ 1791)
• 1856 - Edie Foy[?], singer, dancer, vaudeville performer (+ 1928)
• 1900 - Howard Aiken[?], computing pioneer
• 1902 - Will Geer[?], actor (+ 1978)
• 1910 - Samuel Barber, American composer (+ 1981)
• 1918 - Mickey Spillane, mystery writer
• 1918 - George Lincoln Rockwell[?], American Nazi leader (+ 1967)
• 1923 - Walter Kohn[?], physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1998)
• 1924 - Peter Scholl-Latour[?], journalist
• 1934 - Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut, first human in space (+ 1968)
• 1937 - Mickey Gilly[?], country music performer
• 1940 - John Cale, composer, musician
• 1940 - Raul Julia[?], actor (+ 1994)
• 1943 - Bobby Fischer, chess player
• 1948 - Jeffrey Osborne[?], singer
• 1950 - Danny Sullivan[?], automobile racer
• 1964 - Juliette Binoche, actress
• 1987 - Lil' Bow Wow, rap musician

Deaths

• 1144 - Pope Celestine II
• 1981 - Max Delbrück, German biologist
• 1989 - Robert Mapplethorpe[?], artist
• 1992 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel
• 1996 - George Burns, actor, singer
• 1997 - The Notorious B.I.G., rap musician
• 2003 - Stan Brakhage, filmmaker

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St Frances of Rome[?].

March 8 - March 10 - February 9 - April 9 - more historical anniversaries