On March 15, 44 B.C.E., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.
On this date:
In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
In 1767, the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was born in Waxhaw, S.C.
In 1820, as part of the Missouri Compromise between the North and the South, Maine was admitted into the Union as the 23rd state. It had been administered as a province of Massachusetts since 1647.
In 1875, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York City, John McCloskey, was named the first American cardinal by Pope Pius IX.
In 1906, Rolls-Royce Limited was incorporated.
In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson met with reporters for what's been described as the first presidential press conference.
In 1916, U.S. Army General John "Black Jack" Pershing marched into Mexico to capture revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, who had staged several cross-border raids. The two-year expedition was unsuccessful.
In 1919, members of the American Expeditionary Force from World War I convened in Paris for a three-day meeting to found the American Legion.
In 1944, Allied bombers again raided German-held Monte Cassino.
In 1965, addressing a joint session of Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote.
In 1970, Expo '70, promoting "Progress and Harmony for Mankind," opened in Osaka, Japan. [Also promoted the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. — Ed.]
In 1975, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, the husband of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, died near Paris at age 69.
In 1985, two decades of military rule in Brazil ended with the installation of a civilian government.
In 1990, the Israeli Knesset brought down Yitzhak Shamir's government on a no-confidence motion after the Likud Party leader refused to accept a U.S. peace proposal.
In 1991, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic declared Serbia's secession from the Yugoslav federation.
In 1997, the rebellion in Zaire continued as Kisangani, the African nation's third-largest city, fell to rebel forces.
In 1999, an Amtrak train slammed into a steel-filled truck at a crossing in Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people. The Kosovar Albanian delegation to peace talks in Paris said it was ready to sign an international accord for Kosovo.
In 2000, their presidential nominations secured, Al Gore and George W. Bush dug in for the eight-month battle to Election Day, with Bush saying he was braced for Gore's "politics of personal destruction and distortions," and Gore arguing that Bush's "risky tax scheme" would hurt the economy.
In 2001, Chechen militants hijacked a Russian airliner en route from Istanbul, Turkey, to Moscow and diverted it to Medina, Saudi Arabia. After nearly 24 hours of fruitless negotiations, a Saudi security team stormed the plane and freed the hostages.
In 2003, Hu Jintao was chosen to replace Jiang Zemin as the president of China. The World Health Organization issued a worldwide health alert for the respiratory illness SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
In 2004, Martha Stewart resigned from the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia 10 days after she was convicted in a stock scandal. Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to the Caribbean from African exile after winning temporary asylum in Jamaica. A drive-by shooting in Mosul, Iraq, killed four American missionaries. Astronomers reported finding an object with a diameter of 800 to 1,100 miles circling the sun far beyond the orbit of any known planet. It was dubbed a "planetoid."
In 2005, former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers was convicted in New York of engineering the largest corporate fraud [$11 billion. — Ed.] in U.S. history. (He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.) In a symbolic but stunning rebuke, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a motion saying it lacked confidence in President Lawrence Summers — the first such action in the nearly 400-year history of the university.
In 2006, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein testified for the first time in his massacre trial, calling the judicial proceedings a comedy and urging his fellow Iraqis to stop fighting each other and focus on the United States. Also in 2006, the United Nations approved a new human rights council aimed at banning countries that abuse human rights from membership.
In 2007, Palestinian leaders of Hamas and Fatah agreed to a coalition government but their platform didn't recognize Israel or renounce violence.
In 2008, UPI: A 19-story industrial crane collapsed on the East Side of New York's Manhattan, demolishing an apartment building and other structures. Four construction workers were killed and 13 others were hurt. AP: A construction crane toppled in New York City, killing seven people. China's legislature re-appointed Hu Jintao as president.
In 2009, a chorus of outrage greeted news that some $165 million in executive bonuses were being paid by bailed-out insurance giant American International Group. The space shuttle Discovery was launched on a mission to the international space station that had been delayed five times. Mauricio Funes won El Salvador's presidential election. U.S. government data said GM auto sales in February fell 53 percent below the previous year. Other data showed Ford sales were down 48 percent and Chrysler sales down 44 percent. Among the foreign cars, Toyota was off 40 percent from the previous year and Honda 38 percent.
Today's Birthdays: Musician DJ Fontana is 79. Former astronaut Alan L. Bean is 78. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 77. Actor Judd Hirsch is 75. Rock musician Phil Lesh is 70. Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 69. Rock singer-musician Sly Stone is 67. Rock singer-musician Howard Scott (War; Lowrider Band) is 64. Rock singer Ry Cooder is 63. Actor Craig Wasson is 56. Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 55. Actress Park Overall is 53. Movie director Renny Harlin is 51. Model Fabio is 49. Singer Terence Trent D'Arby (AKA Sananda Maitreya) is 48. Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 47. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rockwell is 46. Rock singer Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 42. Actress Kim Raver is 41. Rock musician Mark Hoppus is 38. Actress Eva Longoria Parker is 35. Rapper-musician will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) is 35. Rock DJ Joseph Hahn (Linkin Park) is 33. Rapper Young Buck is 29. Actor Sean Biggerstaff is 27. Rock musician Ethan Mentzer is 27.
Corpses Birthed On The Ides of March: German immunologist Emil von Behring (1854); Hollywood movie
mogul Lew Wasserman (1913); actor Joe E. Ross (1915); trumpet virtuoso and bandleader Harry James (1916); & football Hall of Fame inductee Norm Van Brocklin (1926).
The Ides of March In Entertainment
In 1945, "Going My Way" won the best picture Oscar. Bing Crosby won the best actor award for his role in that movie.
In 1956, the Frederick Loewe-Alan Jay Lerner musical "My Fair Lady," based on Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, opened on Broadway.
In 1967, Frank Sinatra won the record of the year Grammy for "Strangers in the Night" and album of the year for "Sinatra -- A Man and His Music." John Lennon and Paul McCartney pulled an upset by winning for song of the year for "Michelle."
In 1970, the musical "Purlie," starring Cleavon Little in the title role, opened on Broadway.
In 1977, "Three's Company" made its debut on ABC.
In 1986, the Electric Light Orchestra performed live for the first time in four years. Former Beatle George Harrison joined the band on stage in Birmingham, England.
In 1999, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Dusty Springfield were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2000, TV funnyman Durward Kirby died in Fort Myers, Fla; he was in his late 80s.
In 2009, Tony Award-winning actor Ron Silver died in New York City at age 62.
Thought for Today: "People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust." — E.B. White, American author and humorist (1899-1985).
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