28 March

Events

• 845 - Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
• 1776 - Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
• 1834 - The United States Senate censures President Andrew Jackson for his actions in defunding the Second Bank of the United States.
• 1854 - Crimean War: United Kingdom and France declare war on Russia.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass - In New Mexico, Union forces succeed in stopping the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory. The battle began on March 26.
• 1910 - Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.
• 1930 - Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.
• 1939 - Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the war.
• 1942 - World War II: In occupied France, United Kingdom naval forces raid the German-occupied port of St. Nazaire.
• 1964 - The first pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is established.
• 1979 - In Pennsylvania, a pump in the reactor cooling system fails at Three Mile Island, resulting in the evaporation of some contaminated water causing a nuclear meltdown.
• 1990 - President George H. W. Bush presents Jesse Owens with the Congressional Gold Medal.
• 1994 - In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg resulting in eighteen deaths.
• 2002 - The exhibit "The Italians: Three Centuries of Italian Art" opens at the National Gallery of Australia.

Births

• 1609 - King Frederick III of Denmark († 1670)
• 1819 - Sir Joseph Bazalgette, civil engineer († 1891)
• 1862 - Aristide Briand, politician, winner of the Nobel Prize in peace 1926 († 1932)
• 1868 - Maxim Gorky, author († 1936)
• 1890 - Paul Whiteman, bandleader
• 1897 - Sepp Herberger, football coach († 1977)
• 1902 - Dame Flora Robson, actress († 1984)
• 1904 - Werner Bahlsen, biscuit producer († 1985)
• 1905 - Marlin Perkins, naturalist, television host († 1986)
• 1914 - Edmund Muskie, United States politician († 1996)
• 1921 - Dirk Bogarde, actor († 1999)
• 1924 - Freddie Bartholomew, actor († 1992)
• 1928 - Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor
• 1936 - Mario Vargas Llosa, author and politician
• 1955 - Reba McEntire, country music singer, actress
• 1970 - Vince Vaughn, actor

Deaths

• 193 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor (assassination)
• 1794 - Marquis de Condorcet, mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist
• 1814 - Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, inventor of the guillotine
• 1868 - James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, British military leader
• 1870 - George Henry Thomas, American general
• 1881 - Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer
• 1941 - Virginia Woolf, writer
• 1943 - Sergei Rachmaninov, composer and pianist
• 1944 - Rick Barry, basketball star
• 1948 - Dianne Wiest, actress
• 1953 - Jim Thorpe, athlete
• 1958 - W.C. Handy - Blues composer
• 1969 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. General of the Army, 34th President of the United States
• 1979 - Emmett Kelly, clown
• 1987 - Maria von Trapp, singer
• 1994 - Eugène Ionesco, playwright
• 2000 - Anthony Powell, British novelist

Holidays and observances

March 27 - March 29 - February 28 - April 28 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By