General events on March 8th

In 1574, an English expedition sets out from Galway to hunt down and kill pirate and clan chieftain Grace O'Malley (Granuaile)
In 1896, Volunteers of America was founded in New York City by Christian social reformers Ballington and Maud Booth.
In 1911, New York City Police introduce a new tool, the latent-fingerprint evidence.
In 1927, 75 years ago, Pan American Airlines is incorporated.
In 1945, International Women's Day was first observed.
In 1951, according to the Tonight Show, Wite-Out was invented; the next day, kids flunking out of school became straight "A" students.
In 1964, Malcolm X begins black Muslim action.
In 1973, The Eisenhower Tunnel, the highest in the world and the longest in the U.S., is opened through the continental divide.
In 1983, IBM released PC DOS version 2.0.
In 1986, four French television crew members were abducted in west Beirut; a caller claimed the Islamic Jihad was responsible. (All four were eventually released.)
In 1987, 15 years ago, 17th Easter Seal Telethon raises $35,184,425.
In 1990, Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 80-millionth guest.
In 1993, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average soared to a record high, climbing 64.84 to end the day at 3,469.42.
In 1995, The plummeting dollar stabilized after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called the decline unwarranted.
In 1996, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was acquitted of assisted suicide for helping two suffering patients kill themselves.
In 1996, Wall Street plummeted in a major selloff triggered by seemingly good economic news -- a drop in the nation's unemployment rate and the biggest jobs gain in more than a decade. (Investors apparently worried that a stronger economy would mean no more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.)
In 2000, 2 years ago, Intel Corporation unveiled its 1GHz chip.

Government and Politics on March 8th

In 1754, Marquis of Ensenada becomes premier of Spain.
In 1838, the U.S. mint in New Orleans began operation (producing dimes).
In 1849, Thomas Ewing of Ohio was appointed by U.S. President Zachary Taylor as the first Secretary of the Interior Department.
In 1862, Nat Gordon, the last of the pirates, was hanged in New York City for stealing a cargo of about 1,000 slaves.
In 1897, Reno, Nevada, was incorporated as a city. It became the state's only town of notable size, then 4,500.
In 1910, Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of Paris became the first licensed female pilot.
In 1913, The Internal Revenue Service begins to levy & collect income taxes.
In 1917, the U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
In 1943, Limited gambling legalized in Mexico.
In 1948, the Supreme Court rules religious instructions in public schools is unconstitutional.
In 1950, Marshall Voroshilov of the U.S.S.R. announceed they have developed the atomic bomb.
In 1958, The Chinese government imposed martial law on the restive Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
In 1965, COVER STORY OF NEWSWEEK U.S. Investment in Europe
In 1972, 30 years ago, new guidelines for the classification of documents is announced by President Nixon.
In 1976, COVER STORY OF TIME: "Who is JIMMY CARTER and why do they love/hate him?"
In 1983, the House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed a nuclear weapons freeze with the Soviet Union, a proposal denounced the same day by President Reagan as a "very dangerous fraud."; Reagan calle the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
In 1985, President Reagan sent a team of negotiators into arms talks with the Soviet Union with instructions to cut back offensive weapons.
In 1985, The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxed themselves to discover that 407,700 Americans were millionaires on this day -- more than double the total of just five years before.
In 1988, Vice President George H.W. Bush was the big winner in the "Super Tuesday" Republican presiential primaries. Among Democrats, Michael S. Dukakis, Jesse Jackson and Albert Gore split the lion's share of delegates.
In 1990, Opening arguments were heard in the Iran-Contra trial of former national security adviser John M. Poindexter.
In 1992, 10 years ago, President Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton headed toward "Super Tuesday" claiming big boosts from weekend victories.
In 1992, 10 years ago, Menachem Begin, the stern underground leader hunted as a terrorist before Israel won independence who went on to win the Nobel Prize as prime minister for making peace with Egypt, died of heart failure.
In 1994, the Defense Department announced a smoking ban for workplaces ranging from the Pentagon to battle tanks.
In 1994, President Clinton announced the appointment of Washington attorney Lloyd Cutler as senior counsel, replacing Bernard Nussbaum.
In 1997, 5 years ago, President Clinton, in keeping with his push for private businesses and churches to hire off welfare rolls, ordered federal agencies to do the same.
In 1998, James McDougal, a former business partner of then-Gov. Bill Clinton, died while serving a prison sentence in Texas. He had been convicted in connection with the Whitewater scandal.
In 1999, President Clinton began a tour of Central America.
In 1999, The Clinton administration directed the firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory because of alleged security violations.
In 2000, 2 years ago, President Clinton submitted to Congress legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations with China.

War, Crime and Disaster events on March 8th

In 1801, British drive French forces from Abukir, Egypt.
In 1854, Commodore Perry, representing the U.S., and Japan sign a treaty ending Japan's isolation policy and opening two ports for trade with the U.S.
In 1862, (thru the next day), The Confederate Ironclad 'Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships then battles the Union Ironclad 'Monitor' to a draw. Naval warfare is thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete. Engraving of the Battle The Monitor at dock, showing damage from the battle.
In 1862, Battle of Elkhorn Tavern ends with Confederate withdrawal.
In 1862, Naval Engagement at Hampton Roads, VA CSS Virginia, Jamestown & Yorktown vs USS Cumberland, Congress & Monitor.
In 1862, the Confederate ironclad "Merrimack" is launched.
In 1915, first US navy minelayer, Baltimore, commissioned.
In 1917, (New Style calendar), Russia's "February Revolution" (so-called because of the Old Style calendar being used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg.
In 1917, US invades Cuba for a third time. No wonder they're paranoid.
In 1921, after Germany failed to make its first war reparation payment, French troops occupied Dusseldorf and other towns on the Ruhr River in Germany's industrial heartland.
In 1924, Coal mine explosion kills 171 at Castle Gate Utah.
In 1942, 60 years ago, Japanese forces captured Rangoon, Burma, during World War II.
In 1943, 335 allied bombers attack Neurenberg.
In 1944, U.S. bombers resumed bombing Berlin during World War II.
In 1945, Phyllis M. Daley becomes the first black nurse to be sworn in as an ensign in the U.S. Navy.
In 1950, the first woman medical officer is assigned to a naval vessel, B.R. Walters.
In 1950, The Soviet Union said it was in possession of the atomic bomb.
In 1954, The U.S. and Japan sign a mutual defense treaty.
In 1961, the U.S. nuclear submarine Patrick Henry arrived in Holy Loch, Scotland, from Charleston, S.C., to become the first American sub to use the Scottish naval base.
In 1963, Syrian Arab Rep Revolution Day - Military coup in Syria.
In 1965, the United States landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam.
In 1977, 25 years ago, the U.S. Army announces it has conducted 239 open-air tests of germ warfare.
In 1982, 20 years ago, the U.S. accuses the Soviets of killing 3,000 Afghans with poison gas.
In 1987, 15 years ago, The emotional process of identifying victims from the British ferry disaster continued in Zeebrugge (zay-BRUKH'-ah), Belgium, two days after the "Herald of Free Enterprise" capsized, claiming 189 lives; meanwhile, Sunday services were held in honor of the victims.
In 1989, in Lebanon, daily artillery barrages between Christian and Syrian forces and their militia allies began in Beirut; at least 930 people were killed before a cease-fire took hold the following September.
In 1990, NYC's Zodiac killer shoots first victim, Mario Orosco.
In 1991, Planeload after planeload of US troops arrived home from the Persian Gulf to an emotional welcome from relatives. Iraq handed over 40 foreign journalists and two American soldiers whom it had captured.
In 1992, 10 years ago, ninety people were killed when a ferry carrying pilgrims to a Buddhist shrine collided with an oil tanker in the Gulf of Thailand.
In 1993, the siege at the Branch Davidian religious cult compound near Waco, Texas, dragged on with no sign of surrender.
In 1994, B737 collides with Ilyushin-86 in New Dehli, at least 8 killed.
In 1994, more than 60 people were killed when a speeding train derailed near Durban, South Africa.
In 1994, Train accident at Pinetown, Natal kills 47.
In 1996, China fired three missiles into the sea off Taiwan. The United States responded by beefing up its naval presence in the region.
In 1998, more than a foot of wind-driven snow paralyzed travel across the central Plains and Midwest.
In 2000, 2 years ago, A letter carrier, two firefighters and a sheriff's deputy were shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee, allegedly by the letter carrier's husband, who was also a firefighter.

Royalty and Religious events on March 8th

In 1622, Crown forbids owners of Virginia colony from continuing the lottery
In 1702, 300 years ago, England's Queen Anne ascended the throne upon the death of King William III.
In 1782, the Gnadenhutten massacre took place as about 90 Indians who had converted to Christianity were slain by militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for other Indian raids.
In 1948, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools violated the constitution.
In 1977, 25 years ago, Princess Anne announces she's expecting her 1st child (Peter).

Human Achievement and Science events on March 8th

In 1616, Edward Brounde sails from Dartmouth, England to Cape Cod, looking for pearls
In 1618, Johann Kepler discovers Third Law of Planetary Motion
In 1855, A train passed over the first railway suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, New York.
In 1887, The telescopic steel tube fishing rod -- made of steel tubes inside one another -- was patented on this day by Everett Horton.
In 1934, an Edwin Hubble photograph shows as many galaxies as Milky Way stars.
In 1946, the first helicopter was licensed for commercial use in N.Y. city.
In 1972, 30 years ago, the Goodyear blimp was first flown. Still no sign of the Goodrich blimp.
In 1976, the largest observed falling single stony meteorite at 1,774 kg fell in Jilin, China.
In 1979, Volcanoes on Io discovered by Voyager 1.
In 1986, Japanese probe Suisei passes Halley's Comet at 109,800 km