Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). There are 287 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 1687 - The men under explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle murder him while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River. 1831 - City Bank of New York is the site of the first bank robbery in United States history ($245,000 taken). 1861 - Maori War ends in New Zealand. 1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle on the 21st the Confederate forces had retreated from Greenville, North Carolina. 1915 - Pluto is photographed for the first time but was not recognized as a planet. 1916 - First United States air combat mission in history as eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa. 1918 - The United States Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time. 1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (first time was on November 19, 1919). 1932 - Sydney Harbour Bridge opens. 1942 - The Thoroughbred Racing Association is establish in Chicago, Illinois. 1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 800 of her crew and crippling the ship. 1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed. 1946 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France. 1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color. 1972 - India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty. 1981 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia. 1982 - Falklands War: Argentines lands on South Georgia Island, precipitating war. 1987 - Following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, televangelist Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL. 2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities. Births 1813 - David Livingstone, missionary and explorer († 1873) 1848 - Wyatt Earp, policeman, gunfighter († 1929) 1849 - Alfred von Tirpitz, German soldier († 1930) 1864 - Charles Marion Russell, artist († 1926) 1865 - William Morton Wheeler, american entomologist,myrmecologist,Harvard Professor and pioneer in the field of Ethology. 1873 - Max Reger, composer († 1916) 1883 - Joseph Stilwell, American soldier († 1946) 1890 - Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam († 1969) 1891 - Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States († 1974) 1894 - Joe Venuti, jazz musician and violinist († 1978) 1894 - Moms Mabley, comedienne († 1975) 1900 - Frédéric Joliot, physicist and winner of 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry († 1958) 1905 - Albert Speer, Nazi official († 1981) 1906 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official († 1962) 1909 - Louis Hayward, actor († 1985) 1914 - Jay Berwanger, American football star, winner of the first Heisman Trophy († 2002) 1916 - Irving Wallace, novelist († 1990) 1917 - Dinu Lipatti, pianist († 1950) 1928 - Hans Küng, theologian 1928 - Patrick McGoohan, actor 1930 - Ornette Coleman, musician 1933 - Philip Roth, author 1936 - Ursula Andress, actress 1939 - Joe Kapp, American football star 1944 - Sirhan Sirhan, assassin 1944 - Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize 1947 - Glenn Close, actress 1955 - Bruce Willis, actor Deaths 1286 - King Alexander III of Scotland 1939 - Lloyd L. Gaines, civil rights activist 1945 - Friedrich Fromm, Nazi official 1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, author 1980 - Tamara de Lempicka, art deco painter 1982 - Randy Rhoads, guitarist 1987 - Louis-Victor de Broglie, physicist and winner 1929 of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1997 - Willem de Kooning, artist 2003 - Michael Mathias Prechtl, illustrator Holidays and observances Roman Catholic - St. Joseph's Day, spouse of Mary, mother of Jesus. Church of England - St. Joseph of Nazareth, spouse of Mary. Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain The first day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva. See Also: March 18 - March 20 - February 19 - April 19 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.