986 – Louis V became the last Carolingian king of West Francia after the death of his father, Lothaire.

1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units attempted to prevent capture of supply ships in and around the Savannah River by a small fleet of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Rice Boats.

1807 – The U.S. Congress passed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, which disallowed the importation of new slaves into the country.

1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico was adopted.

1855 – Alexander II became Tsar of Russia.

1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, began.

1867 – The U.S. Congress passed the first Reconstruction Act.

1877 – Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declared Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.

1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by Roderick Maclean in Windsor.

1901 – United States Steel Corporation was founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.

1901 – The U.S. Congress passed the Platt Amendment which limited the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.

1903 – In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opened and was the first hotel exclusively for women.

1917 – The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act granted Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.

1933 – “King Kong”, a film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Fay Wray, premiered at Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in New York City.

1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signed a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel which led to unionization of the United States steel industry.

1941 – World War II: First German military units entered Bulgaria after it joined the Axis Pact.

1943 – World War II: Allied aircraft defeated a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.

1949 – Captain James Gallagher landed his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.

1956 – “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” single cover was released by Elvis Presley.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.

1964 – The Beatles began filming “A Hard Day’s Night”, George Harrison met Pattie Boyd.

1965 – The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force began Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

1965 – One of the most popular musical films of all time, “The Sound of Music”, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, was released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1966).

1969 – In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde was conducted.

1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.

1976 – Walt Disney World logged its 50 millionth guest.

1977 – Future The Tonight Show host Jay Leno debuted with host Johnny Carson.

1978 – Czech Vladimír Remek became the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he was launched aboard Soyuz 28.

1983 – Compact discs and players were released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.

1991 – Battle at Rumaila oil field brought an end to the 1991 Gulf War.

1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicated that Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.

2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda began, (ended on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).

2012 – A tornado outbreak occurred over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, which resulted in 40 tornado-related fatalities.

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