30 March History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.