March 18 Historic Trivia You Need to Know!
Channel: Mr. Dearmon - US History Teacher
Date: 2024-03-18

On March 18th, many significant events have taken place throughout history. From political milestones to cultural moments, learn about the historic trivia that you need to know on this date in history. Expand your knowledge and impress your friends with these important historical facts!

1532 English parliament bans payments by English church to Rome
1673 Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
1766 Britain repeals the Stamp Act, which had caused outrage in colonial America and helped lead to the American Revolution
1818 US Congress approves 1st pensions for government service
1834 1st railroad tunnel in US completed, in Pennsylvania (900 feet long)
1850 Henry Wells & William Fargo form American Express in Buffalo
1865 Congress of Confederate States of American adjourns for last time
1877 US President Rutherford B. Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass marshal of Washington, D.C.
1881 Barnum & Bailey Circus, traveling as "The Greatest Show on Earth", debuts at Madison Square Garden in New York City following the merger of two existing circus groups
1882 Morgan Earp is assassinated by outlaws while playing billiards in Tombstone
1890 1st US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts)
1895 200 African Americans leave Savannah, Georgia for Liberia
1899 Phoebe, a moon of Saturn is discovered by William Pickering
1902 Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record
1911 North Dakota enacts a hail insurance law
1922 British magistrates in India sentence Mahatma Gandhi to six years imprisonment for disobedience
1922 The first public celebration of Bat mitzvah, for the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, is held in New York City.
1925 Great Tri-State Tornado: Monstrous F5 (over 300MPH) tornado roars 219 miles across southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and southwest Indiana; kills 695, injures over 2000, and destroys 15,000 homes
1931 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)
1942 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority, which was charged with overseeing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
1948 Philips begin experimental TV broadcasting
1952 1st plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Philadelphia)
1959 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill
1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov leaves his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes and becomes the first person to conduct a spacewalk
1968 US Congress repeals requirement for a gold reserve
1977 Vietnam hands over MIA to US
1986 US Treasury Department announces plans to alter paper money
1987 Gerber survey find most popular names for newborns are Jessica and Matthew
1990 A Tampa little leaguer dies after being struck by a pitch
1992 American businesswoman Leona Helmsley sentenced to 4 years for tax evasion "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes”
2011 MESSENGER spacecraft enters Mercury's orbit
2018 First fatal accident involving an Uber self-driving car hitting a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona
2018 Vladimir Putin is elected to a new six-year term as Russian President with 76% of the vote, his fourth term
2021 US House Judiciary Committee hearing begins on rise of violence and discrimination against Asian-Americans with report saying 3,800 hate incidents recorded over 12 months
2021 US President Joe Biden agrees Russian President Vladimir Putin is a "killer" in ABC News interview. Putin responds "It takes one to know one" a day later.