This Week in History
by Dianne Hermann
“In the summer of 1776 our Founding Fathers sought to
secure our independence and our liberties that remain the
foundation of our nation today.” Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Mar 23-29, 2026
March 23
1775 – Patrick Henry proclaimed, while urging fellow Virginians to arm in self-defense, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
1920 – Britain denounced the U.S. because of their delay in joining the League of Nations. The U.S. never joined the League of Nations and it was disbanded in 1946.
1936 – Dr. Joseph G. Hamilton injected a leukemia patient with a sodium radioisotope, the first intravenous injection of a human with a radioisotope. Hamilton and his research team also injected plutonium into 18 unsuspecting patients to observe the effects of radiation on humans. Hamilton died in 1957 at age 49 of leukemia. His death was ruled an industrial accident since it was suspected his disease was a consequence of his work.
1965 – Gemini 3 was launched, sending into space “Molly Brown,” the first 2-man U.S. flight with Gus Grissom and John Young on board. Grissom was one of three astronauts killed in a launch pad fire in 1967. Young went on to command the first Space Shuttle flight in 1981. Watch the launch into space.
1983 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan introduced the “Star Wars” plan (Strategic Defense Initiative). The SDI officially ended in 1993 under the Clinton Administration.
1987 – The first Soul Train Awards was held in Los Angeles and was hosted by Luther Vandross and Dionne Warwick. Watch a performance of “That’s What Friends Are For” featuring Dionne and her niece, the late Whitney Houston.
2005 – The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube. Schiavo died two weeks later at age 41 after suffering irreversible brain damage 15 years earlier. Terri had been in a persistent vegetative state since 1990 and was the subject of multiple legal battles.
2013 – The Senate approved its first budget in four years by a margin of 50–49. President Obama failed to submit a constitutionally required budget during his first term.
March 24
1765 – Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers. The Third Amendment of the Constitution restricting the housing of soldiers during peacetime was in direct response to the British Quartering Act.
1935 – Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour went national on the NBC Radio Network. Ted Mack, who supervised the auditions, hosted the TV version in 1955. Listen to the oldest known recording of the show with the Hoboken Four featuring a very young Frank Sinatra.
1947 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated the NYC East River site to the United Nations. The UN was founded in October of 1945. Construction on the headquarters building began in 1949 and was completed in 1952.
1949 – Walter and John Huston became the first father-and-son team to win Academy Awards in the same year. Walter won for Best Supporting Actor and John won for Best Director for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
1998 – Two students, Andrew Golden, age 11, and Mitchell Johnson, age 13, fired on teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas, killing five people and wounding ten. Both were found guilty, incarcerated until they were 21 years old, then released. In 2007, Johnson was indicted on federal weapons and drug charges. He was released on parole in July 2015. Andrew Golden, who changed his name to Drew Grant, died in a car accident in 2019 at age 33. Johnson, now 40, is the only living mass school shooter who is not incarcerated.
2014 – The U.S. and its allies announced they will exclude Russia from the G8 meeting and boycott a planned summit in Sochi in response to Russia’s takeover of Crimea. The G7 summit was held in Brussels in June with a condemnation of Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
March 25
1851 – Yosemite Valley was discovered in California. Yosemite became a national park in 1890. Naturalist John Muir helped drew its boundaries in 1889 and co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892 to help protect it.
1863 – The Secretary of War awarded the first Army Medals of Honor to six Union Army volunteers.
1911 – 145 women died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. The doors were locked so the mostly teenaged, non-English speaking girls could not get out the 4th floor sweatshop.
1931 – The “Scottsboro Boys” were arrested in Alabama. Nine young men were falsely accused of sexually assaulting two women on a train. All but the 12-year-old boy were convicted and sentenced to death. Eventually, the Supreme Court overturned the convictions based on the violation of due process clause and the men were retried. They were still convicted of rape, but were sentenced to varied-length prison terms.
1958 – Sugar Ray Robinson became the first boxing champion to win 5 titles when he defeated Carmen Basilio in 15 rounds by a split decision. Watch the second half of the fight.
1966 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a “poll tax” is unconstitutional. In Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, the Court declared that the imposition of a poll tax in state elections violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1987 – The Supreme Court ruled that women and minorities may get jobs if they are less qualified as part of Affirmative Action.
2004 – The Senate voted (61-38) on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 1997), making it a separate crime to harm a fetus during the commission of a violent federal crime.
March 26
1790 – Congress passed the Naturalization Act, requiring 2-year U.S. residency.
1910 – The U.S. forbade immigration of criminals, anarchists, paupers, and the sick.
1943 – U.S. army nurse 2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott was the first woman to receive an Air Medal. Ott was awarded the medal by Brig. Gen. Fred W. Borum for her role in the emergency evacuation of five military personnel from India to the U.S. and her medical information for future rescues.
1953 – Dr. Jonas Salk announced on the radio that the Polio vaccine has been successfully tested. Watch a report with actual footage of Salk administering the vaccine to children.
1982 – Ground-breaking took place for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. The Wall was completed in November. The $9 million Memorial was paid for completely by private donations.
1997 – Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth (1.315 Astronomical Units). It was visible in the Northern Hemisphere for around 16 months. About 40 people who were part of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult in San Diego committed mass suicide as the comet came close to Earth. Watch news footage featuring a former member.
1999 – A Michigan jury found Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man during a “physician-assisted suicide.” He was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. Kevorkian was paroled in 2007 after being diagnosed with Hepatitis C. He died in 2011 at age 83.
2007 – The U.S. Postal Service unveiled the design for the “Forever Stamp.” There is no price printed on the stamp so, once purchased, it can be used by customers even if the price of a postage stamp increases. Stamps in 2007 cost 41 cents each and now currently cost 77 cents each.
March 27
1794 – The U.S. Government established a permanent navy and authorized the building of six frigates.
1912 – The first cherry blossom trees are planted in Washington, DC. The trees were a gift from Japan.
1956 – The U.S. seized the U.S. communist newspaper “Daily Worker” for non-payment of taxes. The newspaper was founded in 1924 by the American Communist Party. The last issue was published in January 1958.
1964 – An earthquake, 9.2 on the Richter scale, struck Alaska, killing 118. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the U.S. In fact, nine of the top ten strongest earthquakes in the U.S. have hit Alaska. Watch a report with actual film footage of the quake.
1979 – The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that police can’t randomly stop cars because it violates the 4th Amendment protection from illegal search and seizure.
1998 – The U.S. FDA approved the prescription drug Viagra. It is the first pill for male impotence.
2007 – National Football League owners voted to make the instant replay a permanent officiating tool.
March 28
1774 – Britain passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, against Massachusetts colonists in response to the Boston Tea Party.
1885 – The U.S. Salvation Army was officially organized. William Booth and his wife Catherine started the Salvation Army in England in 1852.
1917 – The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was founded during World War I. The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) became a permanent part of the Army in 1943. WACs filled non-combat roles.
1921 – President Warren Harding nominated former president William Howard Taft (1909-1913) as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Taft is the only former president to also serve on the Supreme Court (1921-1930).
1946 – The U.S. State Department released the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power. It was written in large part by Robert Oppenheimer, the committee’s chief scientific consultant, who is known as “the father of the atomic bomb.”
1966 – The inaugural Country & Western Music Awards was held at the Palladium in Hollywood. Merle Haggard and Buck Owens were among the winners. Its name was changed to the Academy of Country Music in the early 70s and the award show was first aired on TV in 1972 (7th Annual).
1979 – A partial meltdown caused a major nuclear accident at Nuclear Generating Station #2 at Three Mile Island in Middletown, Pennsylvania. There were no deaths and Station #2 was permanently shut down. Station #1 was shut down in September 2019. The plant is expected to reopen in 2027 and be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. Watch an animated video of the accident.
1990 – Jesse Owens was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George H. W. Bush. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Owens became the first American in Olympic Track and Field history to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad. Owens died in 1980 at age 66.
2010 – China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Company signed a deal to buy Ford Motor Company’s Volvo car unit for $1.8 billion.
March 29
1806 – Construction was authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first federal highway in the U.S.
1867 – Congress approved the Lincoln Memorial. The Memorial was dedicated in 1922. Lincoln’s only surviving son, 79-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance.
1951 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of spying. They were executed in 1953. Watch a 1951 newsreel of the events.
1961 – The 23rd Amendment was ratified, allowing Washington, DC residents to vote in presidential elections.
1971 – 1st Lt. William L. Calley, Jr. was found guilty in the My Lai (Vietnam) massacre and is sentenced to life in prison with hard labor. Calley was transferred to house arrest pending appeal, where he served 3 1/2 years at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being released. He was finally pardoned by President Nixon in 1974. Calley died in 2024 at age 80.
1973 – U.S. troops left Vietnam, nine years after The Tonkin Resolution. Two U.S. ships were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin by three Vietnamese Navy ships on August 2, 1964. At President LBJ’s request Congress passed the Resolution authorizing the president “to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.” President Nixon signed the repeal of the resolution in 1971.
1979 – The Committee on Assassinations Report issued by House of Representatives stated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy.
1995 – The House of Representatives rejected a constitutional amendment that would have limited terms to 12 years in the House and Senate.
1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 10,000 for the first time. It is now over 46,000.
2019 – Joe Biden was accused by Lucy Flores of kissing her inappropriately.
Image from: publicradiotulsa.org
