March 8 - Definition and Overview

March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in Leap years). There are 298 days remaining.

Events

• 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but later on May 15 confirms the discovery).
• 1702 - Anne becomes Queen of Great Britain.
• 1782 - In the Gnadenhutten massacre 93 Native Americans were killed.
• 1844 - King Oscar I accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway
• 1862 - American Civil War: The iron-clad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) is launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
• 1906 Moro Crater Massacre: US troops occupying the Philippines massacred about 600 men, women and children taking refuge in a crater.
• 1911 - International Women's Day is celebrated for the first time.
• 1917 - The February Revolution breaks out in Russia (February 23 O.S.).
• 1917 - The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
• 1918 - The first case of Spanish flu occurs, which would later trigger a devastating pandemic.
• 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.
• 1952 - Antoine Pinay becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1957 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.
• 1959 - Last television appearance of The Marx Brothers, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery
• 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.
• 1966- A bomb planted by young Irish protesters destroys Nelson's Pillar in Dublin.
• 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.
• 2004 - A new, democratically-founded constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.

Births

• 1514 - Amago Haruhisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1562)
• 1714 - Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, composer, not to be confused with his father Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1788)
• 1783 - Hannah Van Buren, would-be First Lady of the United States (d. 1819)
• 1827 - Wilhelm Bleek, linguist (d. 1875)
• 1841 - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Supreme Court justice (d. 1935)
• 1856 - Tom Roberts, artist (d. 1931)
• 1857 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, composer (d. 1919)
• 1859 - Kenneth Grahame, author (d. 1932)
• 1872 - Anna Held, actress & singer, (d. 1918)
• 1879 - Otto Hahn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1944 (d. 1968)
• 1904 - Victor de Kowa, actor (d. 1973)
• 1908 or '09, '10 or '11 - Claire Trevor, actress (d. 2000)
• 1911 - Alan Hovhaness, composer
• 1912 - Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (d. 2003)
• 1915 - Tapio Rautavaara, athlete, actor, singer (d. 1979)
• 1921 - Cyd Charisse, actress, dancer
• 1922 - Heinar Kipphardt, dramatist, lyricist, narrator (d. 1922)
• 1923 - Walter Jens, writer
• 1931 - John McPhee, writer
• 1939 - Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
• 1943 - Lynn Redgrave, actress
• 1945 - Jim Chapman, American politician
• 1945 - Micky Dolenz, actor, director, musician ("The Monkees")
• 1945 - Anselm Kiefer, painter
• 1946 - Randy Meisner, musician ("The Eagles")
• 1947 - Carole Bayer Sager, composer
• 1957 - Cynthia Rothrock, actress and martial artist
• 1958 - Gary Numan, singer
• 1959 - Aidan Quinn, actor
• 1961 - Camryn Manheim, actress (The Practice)
• 1970 - Jason Elam, American football player
• 1972 - Fergal O'Brien, Irish snooker player
• 1976 - Gareth Coombes, musician ("Supergrass")
• 1976 - Freddie Prinze Jr., actor
• 1977 - James Van Der Beek, actor

Deaths

• 1144 - Pope Celestine II
• 1702 - King William III of England, (b. 1650)
• 1841 - King Charles XIV / Carl III of Sweden-Norway, (b. 1763)
• 1869 - Hector Berlioz, composer (b. 1803)
• 1874 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States, (b. 1800)
• 1889 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer, (b. 1803)
• 1930 - William Howard Taft, President of the United States, Chief Justice of the United States, (b. 1857)
• 1941 - Sherwood Anderson, author, (b. 1876)
• 1942 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player, (b. 1888)
• 1971 - Harold Lloyd, actor, (b. 1893)
• 1973 - Ron Pigpen McKernan of the Grateful Dead, (b. 1945)
• 1975 - George Stevens, director, producer, cinematographer, (b. 1904)
• 1983 - William Walton, composer, (b. 1902)
• 1988 - Henryk Szeryng, violinist, (b. 1918)
• 1992 - Red Callender, composer
• 1993 - Billy Eckstine, jazz musician, (b. 1914)
• 1998 - Ray Nitschke, American football star
• 1999 - Joe DiMaggio, Baseball Hall of Famer, (b. 1914)
• 2003 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor, (b. 1940)
• 2003 - Karen Morley, actress

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St John of God.
• In many countries, it is International Women's Day
• Ottawa declares this day Alanis Morissette Day, in honor of singer Alanis Morissette, but Morissette refused to accept this honor because March 8 was already International Women's Day
• Albania - Mother's Day

March 7 - March 9 - February 8 - April 8 -- listing of all days