March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in Leap years). There are 278 days remaining.

Events

• 193 - Roman Emperor Pertinax was assassinated by Praetorian Guards, who then sold the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus.
• 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.
• 1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland, a northern fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceased to exist and became part of Imperial Russia.
• 1802 - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovered 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man.
• 1809 - Battle of Medelin
• 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.
• 1860 - First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka broke out.
• 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.
• 1920 - Actors Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Mary Pickford marry.
• 1930 - Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.
• 1939 - Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Cape Matapan - In the Mediterranean Sea, British Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham leads the Royal Navy in the destruction of three major Italian battleships and two destroyers.
• 1942 - World War II: In occupied France, British naval forces raid the German-occupied port of St. Nazaire.
• 1946 - Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report , outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
• 1947 - The last episode of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century airs on radio.
• 1964 - The first pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is established.
• 1978 - US Supreme Court hands down 5-3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
• 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 posthumously awards Jesse Owens 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.
• 2005 - The 2005 Sumatran earthquake rocks Indonesia, and at magnitude 8.7 is the second strongest earthquake since 1965.

Births

• 1515 - Saint Teresa of Avila, Spanish Carmelite nun and poet (d. 1582)
• 1569 - Ranuccio Farnese I, Duke of Parma (d. 1622)
• 1609 - King Frederick III of Denmark (d. 1670)
• 1760 - Thomas Clarkson, anti-slavery campaigner
• 1819 - Sir Joseph Bazalgette, civil engineer (d. 1891)
• 1862 - Aristide Briand, politician, winner of the Nobel Prize in peace 1926 (d. 1932)
• 1868 - Maxim Gorky, author (d. 1936)
• 1871 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d. 1951)
• 1890 - Paul Whiteman, bandleader (d. 1967)
• 1895 - Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1985)
• 1897 - Sepp Herberger, football coach (d. 1977)
• 1899 - Harold B. Lee, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1973)
• 1902 - Dame Flora Robson, actress (d. 1984)
• 1903 - Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (d. 1991)
• 1903 - Charles Starrett, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1904 - Werner Bahlsen , biscuit producer (d. 1985)
• 1905 - Marlin Perkins, naturalist, television host (d. 1986)
• 1907 - Irving "Swifty" Lazar , Hollywood agent (d. 1993)
• 1909 - Nelson Algren, American writer (d. 1981)
• 1910 - Jimmie Dodd, Mickey Mouse Club performer (d. 1964)
• 1910 - Queen Ingrid of Denmark (d. 2000)
• 1914 - Edmund Muskie, United States politician (d. 1996)
• 1915 - Jay Livingston, American composer, songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1921 - Dirk Bogarde, actor (d. 1999)
• 1924 - Freddie Bartholomew, actor (d. 1992)
• 1928 - Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor
• 1936 - Mario Vargas Llosa, author and politician
• 1941 - Jim Turner, American football player
• 1942 - Neil Kinnock, British statesman
• 1942 - Mike Newell, British film director
• 1942 - Jerry Sloan, American basketball coach
• 1943 - Conchata Ferrell , American actress
• 1944 - Rick Barry, basketball player
• 1944 - Ken Howard , American actor
• 1948 - Dianne Weist, actress
• 1951 - Karen Kain, Canadian ballerina
• 1953 - Melchior Ndadaye, first President of Burundi (d. 1993)
• 1955 - Reba McEntire, country music singer, actress
• 1958 - Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
• 1962 - Jure Franko, Slovenian alpine skier
• 1968 - Iris Chang, author (d. 2004)
• 1970 - Vince Vaughn, actor
• 1971 - Mr. Cheeks, rapper
• 1974 - Mark King, English snooker player
• 1977 - Devon, pornographic film actress
• 1981 - Julia Stiles, actress

Deaths

• 193 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor (assassination) (b. 126)
• 1285 - Pope Martin IV (b. c. 1210)
• 1794 - Marquis de Condorcet, mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist (b. 1743)
• 1868 - James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, British military leader (b. 1797)
• 1870 - George Henry Thomas, American general (b. 1816)
• 1881 - Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer (b. 1839)
• 1910 - David Josiah Brewer, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1837)
• 1941 - Virginia Woolf, writer (b. 1882)
• 1943 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer and pianist (b. 1873)
• 1953 - Jim Thorpe, athlete (b. 1887)
• 1958 - W.C. Handy - Blues composer (b. 1873)
• 1969 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. General of the Army, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890)
• 1979 - Emmett Kelly, clown (b. 1898)
• 1980 - Dick Haymes, singer
• 1985 - Marc Chagall, Belarussian painter
• 1987 - Maria von Trapp, singer
• 1987 - Patrick Troughton, British actor
• 1995 - Hugh O'Connor , American actor
• 2000 - Anthony Powell, British novelist (b. 1905)
• 2001 - Moe Koffman , Canadian jazz musician
• 2004 - Art James, American game show host
• 2004 - Peter Ustinov, British actor

External links

• BBC: On This Day

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