Title: March 4 Content: From 1793 – 1933, March 4 was Inauguration Day for the President of the United States. Since 1937, Inauguration Day has been January 20. == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 51 - Nero is given the title of Princeps Iuventutis (Head of the Youth). * 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans. * 1226 - The city of Hamm, in North Rhine-Westphalia, present-day Germany, is founded. * 1275 - Chinese astronomers observe a solar eclipse. * 1351 – Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam. * 1386 – Wladyslaw II Jagiello (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland. * 1461 – The Lancastrian King Henry VI of England is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, King Edward IV of England. * 1493 – Christopher Columbus arrives in Portugal after the voyage that took him to the Caribbean. * 1519 – Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico. * 1628 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a royal charter. * 1665 – England's King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands. * 1675 – In England, John Flamsteed is appointed as the first Astronomer Royal. * 1681 – Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn, to colonise what is now Pennsylvania. * 1769 - The Orion Nebula is first observed by Charles Messier. * 1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston. * 1789 – In New York City, the first United States Congress meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. * 1790 – France is divided into 83 Departements. * 1791 – Vermont becomes the 14th State of the US. * 1793 – John Adams becomes the first US President to be inaugurated on March 4. * 1794 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed by the United States Congress. * 1837 - The city of Chicago is incorporated. * 1848 - Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the Constitution of the Kingdom of Italy. * 1861 – Abraham Lincoln becomes President of the United States. During his time in office, he will be faced with the American Civil War. * 1861 – The Stars and Bars Flag of the Confederate States of America is introduced. * 1865 – The third national flag of the Confederate States of America is introduced. * 1882 – The United Kingdom's first electric trams run in London. * 1877 – The ballet Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky has its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. * 1890 – The Forth Rail Bridge is opened in Scotland. * 1899 – Cyclone Mahina passes to the north of Cooktown, Queensland, Australia, with 12-metre waves travelling inland by as much as five kilometres, killing 300 people. === 1901 2000 === * 1902 - The American Automobile Club is founded in Cleveland, Ohio. * 1908 - The Collinwood School Fire near Cleveland, Ohio kills 174 people. * 1913 - The United States Department of Labor is created. * 1917 – Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman in the House of Representatives. * 1918 – The first case of the Spanish flu pandemic occurs. * 1918 - The ship USS Cyclops leaves Barbados, never to be seen again. It is one of several disappearances in the so-called Bermuda Triangle. * 1929 – Herbert Hoover becomes President of the United States. At the same time, Charles Curtis becomes the first Vice President of the United States of Native American ancestry. * 1933 – Chancellor of Austria Engelbert Dolfuss begins authoritarian rule by decree. * 1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the last President of the United States to be inaugurated on March 4. * 1933 – Frances Perkins becomes the first woman in the United States Cabinet, as she becomes Secretary for Labor. * 1936 - The Hindenburg airship makes its first test-flight over Lake Constance. * 1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands. * 1943 – World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea ends. * 1943 - British passenger steamer City of Pretoria is sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic Ocean. No-one on board survives. * 1945 – Lapland War: Finland declares war on Germany. * 1960 – The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havanna, Cuba. * 1962 - A Caledonia Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after take-off in Cameroon, killing 111 people. * 1966 – A Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people. * 1966 - John Lennon of The Beatles says that the band is probably "Bigger than Jesus". * 1970 - French submarine Erydice explodes underwater, killing the entire 57-man crew. * 1974 - People magazine is first published in the United States, under the name "People Weekly". * 1976 - Northern Ireland is directly ruled from London from this date. * 1977 – An earthquake strikes southeastern Europe. Bucharest, Romania, is among the places that suffer damage, as around 1,500 people are killed. * 1980 – Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. * 1983 - Bertha Wilson becomes the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada. * 1985 – The US Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS. * 1986 – The Soviet Vega 1 space probe starts to return images of Halley's Comet, including its nucleus. * 1987 - President Ronald Reagan apologizes to the American people on a live televised address about the Iran-Contra affair. * 1991 - For the first time since Iraq's invasion, Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Saad Al-Abdallah Al- Salim Al-Sabah returns to his country. * 1996 - A train that has crashed off the tracks in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. causes an emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days. * 2000 – Play Station 2 is released for the first time, in Japan. === From 2001 === * 2001 – A car bomb explodes outside the BBC television centre, seriously injuring one person. * 2001 – A Bridge collapse in northern Portugal kills up to 70 people. * 2001 - A majority of voters in Switzerland rejects membership of the European Union. * 2007 – In Estonia, approximately 30,000 voters make uses of electronic voting, which had previously never been used in an election, for the Estonian Parliamentary Election. * 2009 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state for the first time, for Omar Hassan Ahmad al- Bashir, President of Sudan, on war crimes charges in relation to the crisis in Darfur. * 2012 – More than 100 people are killed in a munitions dump fire in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. * 2012 – Vladimir Putin declares victory in the Russian Presidential Election, allowing him to become President of Russia for a second time. * 2014 - Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip resigns from office after nine years, being succeeded by Taavi Roivas. * 2015 - A mine explosion in Rebel-controlled Eastern Ukraine kills 34 miners. * 2018 - The German Social Democrats vote in favour of a new governing coalition under Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU, ending a period of political uncertainty after the Bundestag election over five months earlier. * 2018 - Italian general election, 2018: Italy holds its general election, with no party gaining an overall majority and populist and right-wing parties gaining seats. * 2018 - Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England. == Births == === Up to 1800 === * 895 - Liu Zhiyuan, Chinese Emperor (d. 948) * 1188 – Blanche of Castile, Queen of Louis VIII of France (d. 1252) * 1394 – Henry the Navigator (d. 1460) * 1484 - George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, follower of Martin Luther (d. 1543) * 1492 - Francesco de Loyolle, Italian composer (d. 1540) * 1525 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer of Renaissance music (d. 1594) * 1610 – William Dobson, English portraitist and painter (d. 1646) * 1645 - Johann Ambrosius Bach, German musician (d. 1695) * 1665 - Philip Christoph von Konigsmarck, Swedish soldier (d. 1694) * 1678 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer (d. 1741) * 1702 - Jack Sheppard, English burglar and escapee (d. 1724) * 1706 - Lauritz de Thurah, Danish architect (d. 1759) * 1715 - James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, British statesman (d. 1763) * 1745 - Kazimierz Pulaski, Polish-American general (d. 1779) * 1756 – Henry Raeburn, Scottish painter (d. 1823) * 1770 - Joseph Jacotot, French teacher and educational philosopher (d. 1840) * 1782 - Johann Rudolf Wyss, Swiss folklorist (d. 1830) * 1792 - Samuel Slocum, American inventor (d. 1861) * 1793 – Karl Lachmann, German philologist (d. 1851) === 1801 1900 === * 1808 - Frederik Stang, Norwegian politician (d. 1884) * 1811 - John Lawrence, Irish nobleman and British Viceroy of India (d. 1879) * 1817 - Edwards Pierrepoint, 34th United States Attorney General (d. 1892) * 1820 - Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary (d. 1856) * 1826 - Elme Marie Caro, French philosopher (d. 1887) * 1838 - Paul Lacome, French composer (d. 1920) * 1847 – Karl Bayer, Austrian chemist (d. 1904) * 1851 - Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek writer (d. 1911) * 1852 – Kristjan Jonsson, 3rd Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1926) * 1856 - Alfred William Rich, English painter (d. 1921) * 1862 - Jacob Robert Emden, Swiss astrophysicist and meteorologist (d. 1940) * 1870 - Thomas Sturge Moore, English poet (d. 1944) * 1871 - Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician (d. 1945) * 1873 – John H. Trumbull, 70th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1961) * 1875 – Mihaly Karolyi, Prime Minister and President of Hungary (d. 1955) * 1875 - Enrique Larreta, Argentine writer, academic, writer and art collector (d. 1961) * 1878 – P. D. Ouspensky, Russian esoterist and writer (d. 1947) * 1879 – Bernhard Kellermann, German writer and poet (d. 1951) * 1879 – Josip Murn, Slovenian poet (d. 1901) * 1881 - Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1924) * 1882 - Nicolae Titulescu, Romanian diplomat and politician (d. 1941) * 1883 - Maude Fealy, American actress (d. 1971) * 1888 – Knute Rockne, Norwegian-born American football coach (d. 1931) * 1889 – Oren E. Long, Territorial Governor of Hawaii and US Senator (d. 1965) * 1889 - Oscar Chisini, Italian mathematician (d. 1957) * 1891 - Lois W., American co- founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (d. 1988) * 1899 - Liana Del Balzo, Argentine- Italian actress (d. 1982) === 1901 1950 === * 1901 - Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, Malagasy-French poet (d. 1937) * 1904 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish politician (d. 1973) * 1908 - Thomas Shaw, American blues musician (d. 1977) * 1910 - Tancredo Neves, Brazilian politician (d. 1985) * 1913 - John Garfield, American actor (d. 1952) * 1914 – Gino Colaussi, Italian footballer (d. 1991) * 1914 – Ward Kimball, American cartoonist (d. 2002) * 1915 - Carlos Surinach, Catalan composer and conductor (d. 1997) * 1915 - Laszlo Csatary, Hungarian war criminal (d. 2013) * 1916 - Giorgio Bassani, Italian writer and poet (d. 2000) * 1918 - Margaret Osborne duPont, American tennis player (d. 2012) * 1921 - Olev Olesk, Estonian politician * 1921 - Kaljo Raid, Estonian cellist, composer and clergyman (d. 2005) * 1922 - Iring Fetscher, German political scientist (d. 2014) * 1922 - Xenia Stad-de Jong, Dutch athlete (d. 2012) * 1923 – Patrick Moore, British astronomer, writer and television presenter (d. 2012) * 1923 - Piero D'Inzeo, Italian equestrian show jumper (d. 2014) * 1925 - Inezita Barroso, Brazilian folk singer (d. 2015) * 1926 - Pascual Pérez, Argentine boxer (d. 1977) * 1926 - Fran Warren, American singer and actress (d. 2013) * 1927 - Phil Batt, former Governor of Idaho * 1928 - Samuel Adler, German-American composer * 1928 – Alan Sillitoe, British writer (d. 2010) * 1929 - Bernard Haitink, Dutch conductor and violinist * 1930 - John Toohey, Australian judge (d. 2015) * 1931 - William H. Keeler, American cardinal (d. 2017) * 1932 - Brunella Bovo, Italian actress (d. 2017) * 1932 – Miriam Makeba, South African singer (d. 2008) * 1932 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist (d. 2007) * 1932 – Frank Wells, American businessman, president of the Walt Disney Company (d. 1994) * 1934 - Mario Davidovsky, Argentine- American composer * 1934 - Gleb Yakunin, Russian priest and dissident (d. 2014) * 1935 – Bent Larsen, Danish chess player (d. 2010) * 1935 - Prabha Rau, Indian politician (d. 2010) * 1936 – Jim Clark, Scottish racing driver (d. 1968) * 1936 – Aribert Reimann, German composer * 1938 – Paula Prentiss, American actress * 1938 - Alpha Condé, Guinean politician * 1938 - Angus MacLise, American drummer (The Velvet Underground) (d. 1979) * 1943 – Lucio Dalla, Italian singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2012) * 1944 - Bobby Womack, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) * 1945 – Tommy Svensson, Swedish football manager * 1945 - Dieter Meier, Swiss musician, singer and artist * 1945 - Femi Benussi, Italian actress * 1946 - Michael Ashcroft, British politician * 1947 - Jan Garbarek, Norwegian jazz saxophonist * 1947 - Gunnar Hansen, Icelandic- American actor (d. 2015) * 1948 – Shakin' Stevens, Welsh singer * 1948 - Chris Squire, English bass guitarist (Yes) (d. 2015) * 1948 - Brian Cummings, American voice actor * 1948 – James Elroy, American writer * 1949 – Sergei Bagapsh, Abkhazian politician (d. 2011) * 1950 – Rick Perry, American politician, former Governor of Texas === 1951 1975 === * 1951 – Kenny Dalglish, Scottish footballer and manager * 1951 - Zoran Zizic, Montenegrin politician (d. 2013) * 1952 – Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer * 1952 – Svend Robinson, Canadian politician * 1953 – Pawel Janas, Polish football manager * 1953 - Rose Laurens, French singer-songwriter * 1954 – François Fillon, former Prime Minister of France * 1954 - Boris Moiseev, Russian singer, choreographer, dancer, writer and actor * 1954 - Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress * 1954 - Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer and dissident * 1954 – Willie Thorne, English snooker player * 1955 - Joey Jones, Welsh footballer * 1955 - Dominique Pinon, French actor * 1958 - Massimo Mascioletti, Italian rugby player and coach * 1958 - Patricia Heaton, American actress * 1960 – John Mugabi, Ugandan boxer * 1961 - Ray Mancini, American boxer * 1962 – Lolo Ferrari, French actress (d. 2000) * 1963 - Jason Newsted, American musician (Metallica) * 1963 - Daniel Roebuck, American actor * 1964 - Dave Colclough, Welsh computer programmer and poker player * 1965 – Khaled Hosseini, Afghan writer and physician * 1965 - Yury Loncharov, Russian cosmonaut * 1966 - Kevin Johnson, American basketball player and politician * 1967 - Sam Taylor-Wood, English conceptual artist * 1967 – Kubilay Türkyilmaz, Turkish-Swiss footballer * 1967 – Tim Vine, British actor and comedian * 1968 – Patsy Kensit, British actress * 1968 - Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek politician * 1968 - Christina McKelvie, Scottish politician * 1969 - Chaz Bono, American actor and LGBT activist * 1969 – Pierluigi Casiraghi, Italian footballer and manager * 1971 - Fergal Lawler, Irish musician (The Cranberries) * 1971 - Claire Baker, Scottish politician * 1972 - Jos Verstappen, Dutch racing driver * 1972 – Alison Wheeler, British singer (The Beautiful South) * 1972 – Ivy Queen, Puerto Rican musician * 1973 - Massimo Brambilla, Italian footballer * 1973 – Len Wiseman, American movie director and screenwriter * 1973 - Penny Mordaunt, English politician * 1974 – Ariel Ortega, Argentine footballer * 1974 - Joaquim Alberto Silva, Angolan footballer (d. 2019) * 1975 – Antti Aalto, Finnish ice hockey player === From 1976 === * 1976 - Gary Shortland, English figure skater * 1977 - Christian Jessen, English doctor and television host * 1977 - Tonga Lea'aetoa, Tongan-New Zealand rugby player * 1977 - Jason Marsalis, American drummer * 1978 - Jean-Marc Pelletier, American ice hockey player * 1979 - Vyacheslav Malafeev, Russian footballer * 1979 – Jon Fratelli, Scottish singer * 1980 – Omar Bravo, Mexican footballer * 1980 – Phil McGuire, Scottish footballer * 1981 - Laura Michelle Kelly, English actress and singer * 1982 - Elia Rigotto, Italian cyclist * 1982 - Ludmila Ezhova, Russian gymnast * 1982 – Landon Donovan, American soccer player * 1983 - Adam Deacon, English actor, rapper and director * 1984 – Tamir Cohen, Israeli footballer * 1984 - Phillip Inzerillo, American trombone player * 1985 - Park Min-young, South Korean actress * 1985 - Mathieu Montcourt, French tennis player (d. 2009) * 1986 - Manu Vatuvei, New Zealand rugby player * 1986 – Tom De Mul, Belgian footballer * 1988 - Cody Longo, American actor and singer * 1989 - Erin Heatherton, American model * 1990 – Andrea Bowen, American actress * 1992 – Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, daughter of Prince Albert II, Prince of Monaco * 1992 - Erik Lamela, Argentine footballer * 1992 - Jared Sullinger, American basketball player * 1993 - Jenna Boyd, American actress * 1993 - Bobbi Kristina Brown, American media personality and singer (b. 2015) * 1995 - Bill Milner, English actor == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 251 – Pope Lucius I * 561 - Pope Pelagius I * 1172 – King Stephen III of Hungary (b. 1147) * 1193 – Saladin, Turkish sultan (b. 1137) * 1238 – Joan of England, Queen Consort of Scotland (b. 1210) * 1238 - Yuri II of Vladimir (b. 1189) * 1303 - Daniel of Moscow, Russian prince and Grand Duke of Muscovy (b. 1261) * 1484 – Saint Casimir, Prince of Poland (b. 1458) * 1496 – Sigismund of Austria (b. 1427) * 1615 - Hans von Aachen, German painter (b. 1552) * 1619 - Anne of Denmark, Queen of James VI of Scotland/James I of England (b. 1574) * 1710 - Louis, Prince of Condé (b. 1668) * 1762 – Johannes Zick, German fresco painter (b. 1702) * 1793 - Louis de Bourbon, French admiral (b. 1725) * 1795 - John Collins, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1717) * 1805 - Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (b. 1725) * 1807 - Abraham Baldwin, American politician (b. 1754) * 1832 – Jean-François Champollion, French scholar and Egyptologist (b. 1790) * 1852 – Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer (b. 1809) * 1858 – Matthew C. Perry, American naval officer (b. 1794) * 1883 – Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1812) * 1888 – Amos Bronson Alcott, American philosopher and writer (b. 1799) === 1901 2000 === * 1903 - Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English novelist (b. 1854) * 1906 - John Schofield, American general and politician (b. 1831) * 1915 - William Willett, founder of British Summer Time (b. 1856) * 1925 - John Montgomery Ward, American baseball player (b. 1860) * 1941 – Ludwig Quidde, German pacifist (b. 1858) * 1944 – Rene Lefebvre, martyr of the French Resistance (b. 1879) * 1944 - Louis Capone, Italian-American gangster (b. 1896) * 1945 - Mark Sandrich, American movie director, writer and producer (b. 1900) * 1946 – Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Danish big-game hunter (b. 1886) * 1948 – Antonin Artaud, French actor and director (b. 1896) * 1950 - Adam Rainer, Austrian dwarf and giant (b. 1899) * 1952 – Charles Scott Sherrington, English doctor, won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1857) * 1960 - Herbert O'Conor, Governor of Maryland (b. 1896) * 1973 - Samuel Tolansky, British scientist (b. 1907) * 1976 – Walter H. Schottky, German physicist (b. 1886) * 1977 - Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, German politician (b. 1897) * 1978 - William Bolin, 15th Governor of Arizona (b. 1909) * 1980 - Luis Piazzini, Argentine chess player (b. 1905) * 1981 - Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer, German admiral (b. 1900) * 1986 – Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (b. 1936) * 1993 - Richard Sale, American screenwriter and director (b. 1911) * 1994 – John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (b. 1950) * 1999 - Fritz Honegger, Swiss politician (b. 1917) === From 2001 === * 2001 – Glenn Hughes, American singer (b. 1950) * 2001 - Jim Rhodes, 61st Governor of Ohio (b. 1909) * 2001 - Harold Stassen, 25th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1907) * 2004 - John McGeoch, Scottish guitarist (b. 1955) * 2006 - Roman Ogaza, Polish footballer (b. 1952) * 2008 - George Walter, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (b. 1928) * 2008 – Gary Gygax, American games designer who made Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1938). * 2010 – Vladislav Ardzinba, Abkhazian politician (b. 1945) * 2011 – Simon van der Meer, Dutch physicist (b. 1925) * 2011 – Johnny Preston, American singer (b. 1939) * 2011 – Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1924) * 2012 – Paul McBride, Scottish lawyer and politician (b. 1965) * 2013 - Seki Matsunaga, Japanese footballer (b. 1928) * 2013 - Fran Warren, American singer and actress (b. 1926) * 2014 - Wu Tianming, Chinese movie director (b. 1939) * 2014 - Mark Freidkin, Russian writer (b. 1953) * 2015 - Ninan Koshy, Indian thinker, theologian and social analyst (b. 1934) * 2016 - Bud Collins, American sports journalist (b. 1929) * 2016 - Pat Conroy, American author (b. 1945) * 2016 - P. A. Sangma, Indian politician (b. 1947) * 2016 - Abbas Vaez- Tabasi, Iranian cleric (b. 1935) * 2016 - Morgan F. Murphy, American politician (b. 1932) * 2017 - Edi Fitzroy, Jamaican singer-songwriter (b. 1955) * 2017 - Helen M. Marshall, American politician (b. 1929) * 2017 - Clayton Keith Yeutter, American politician (b. 1930) * 2018 - Davide Astori, Italian footballer (b. 1987) * 2018 - Sir William McAlpine, 6th Baronet, British engineering businessman (b. 1936) * 2018 - Farhang Mehr, Iranian- American scholar and writer (b. 1923) * 2018 - H. Wayne Norman, Jr., American politician (b. 1955) * 2018 - James Luna, American performance artist (b. 1950) * 2019 - King Kong Bundy, American professional wrestler (b. 1957) * 2019 - Eric Caldow, Scottish footballer (b. 1934) * 2019 - Juan Corona, Mexican-American serial killer (b. 1934) * 2019 - Keith Flint, English singer (The Prodigy) (b. 1969) * 2019 - Ted Lindsay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925) * 2019 - Klaus Kinkel, German politician (b. 1936) * 2019 - Luke Perry, American actor (b. 1966) * 2019 - Johnny Romano, American baseball player (b. 1934) * 2019 - Jean Starobinski, Swiss literary critic (b. 1920) == Observances == * Saint Casimir's Day (Poland and Lithuania) == Historical Significance == * Inauguration Day of Presidents of the United States from 1793 to 1933. From 1937, the inaugurations take place on January 20. March 04