March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (69th in
Leap years). There are 297 days remaining.
- 1841 - The United States Supreme Court rules in the Amistad case that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into slavery illegally.
- 1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces under General Winfield Scott invade Mexico near Vera Cruz.
- 1862 - American Civil War: The first battle between two ironclad warships[?] - In a five-hour battle near Hampton Roads, Virginia the USS Monitor fights the CSS Virginia to a draw.
- 1916 - Pancho Villa leads 1,500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 17.
- 1924 - Italy annexes Fiume[?]
- 1933 - Great Depression: The United States Congress begins its first 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
- 1945 - World War II: American B-29 bombers attack Japan with incendiary bombs[?].
- 1954 - Mccarthyism: CBS broadcasts the See It Now[?] episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," produced by Edward R. Murrow.
- 1959 - The Barbie doll debuts
- 1964 - The first Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.
- 1967 - Josef Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.
- 1975 - Construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline[?] begins.
- 1977 - Appoximetely a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims take over three buildings in Washington, DC, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends two days later.
- 1986 - United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.
- 1989 - A strike forces financially-troubled Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy.
- 1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States[?], becoming the first female and Hispanic to serve in that position.
- 1990 - Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Clyde Wells[?] confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord[?], effectively killing the Accord.
- 1991 - Massive demonstrations are held against Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. Two people are killed and tanks are in the streets.
- 1993 - Rodney King testifies at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California police officers accused of violating King's civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.
- 1451 - Amerigo Vespucci, voyager and cartographer (+ 1512)
- 1697 - Friederike Caroline Neuber[?], actress (+ 1760)
- 1749 - Honore Mirabeau, politician (+ 1791)
- 1856 - Edie Foy[?], singer, dancer, vaudeville performer (+ 1928)
- 1900 - Howard Aiken[?], computing pioneer
- 1902 - Will Geer[?], actor (+ 1978)
- 1910 - Samuel Barber, American composer (+ 1981)
- 1918 - Mickey Spillane, mystery writer
- 1918 - George Lincoln Rockwell[?], American Nazi leader (+ 1967)
- 1923 - Walter Kohn[?], physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1998)
- 1924 - Peter Scholl-Latour[?], journalist
- 1934 - Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut, first human in space (+ 1968)
- 1937 - Mickey Gilly[?], country music performer
- 1940 - John Cale, composer, musician
- 1940 - Raul Julia[?], actor (+ 1994)
- 1943 - Bobby Fischer, chess player
- 1948 - Jeffrey Osborne[?], singer
- 1950 - Danny Sullivan[?], automobile racer
- 1964 - Juliette Binoche, actress
- 1987 - Lil' Bow Wow, rap musician
See Also: January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June,
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December
March 8 - March 10 - February 9 - April 9 - more historical anniversaries