30 March History
- 1492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sign a decree expelling all Jews from Spain.
- 1840 - "Beau" Brummell, the English dandy and former favorite of the prince regent, dies in a French lunatic asylum for paupers.
- 1858 - Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patents the pencil with an eraser attached on one end.
- 1867 - Russian Baron Stoeckl and U.S. Secretary of State Seward completed the draft of a treaty ceding Alaska to the United States. The treaty is signed the following day.
- 1870 - The 15th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, passes.
- 1870 - President U.S. Grant signs bill readmitting Texas to the Union, the last Confederate state readmitted.
- 1885 - In Afghanistan, Russian troops inflict a crushing defeat on Afghan forces Ak Teppe despite orders not to fight.
- 1909 - The Queensboro Bridge in New York opens. It is the first double decker bridge and links Manhattan and Queens.
- 1916 - Mexican bandit Pancho Villa kills 172 at the Guerrero garrison in Mexico.
- 1936 - Britain announces a naval construction program of 38 warships. This is the largest construction program in 15 years.
- 1941 - The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel begins its first offensive against British forces in Libya.
- 1943 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's first collaboration, Oklahoma, opens on Broadway.
- 1944 - The U.S. fleet attacks Palau, near the Philippines.
- 1945 - The Red Army advances into Austria.
- 1946 - The Allies seize 1,000 Nazis attempting to revive the Nazi party in Frankfurt.
- 1950 - President Harry S Truman denounces Senator Joe McCarthy as a saboteur of U.S. foreign policy.
- 1957 - Tunisia and Morocco sign a friendship treaty in Rabat.
- 1972 - Hanoi launches its heaviest attack in four years, crossing the DMZ.
- 1975 - As the North Vietnamese forces move toward Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese soldiers mob rescue jets.
- 1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in Washington, D.C. by John W. Hinkley Jr.
- 1987 - Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers is bought for $39.85 million.
30 March Birthdays
- 1719 - Sir John Hawkins, author of the first history of music.
- 1820 - Anna Sewell, English novelist (Black Beauty).
- 1853 - Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch impressionist artist.
- 1880 - Sean O'Casey, Irish playwright.
- 1883 - Jo Davidson, American sculptor.