March 4th in History

Michael Dobson | March 4

On this day in history —

  • Columbus returns to Europe after his first voyage to the New World (1493)
  • Hernán Cortés reaches Mexico to begin his conquest of the Aztec empire (1519)
  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony is chartered (1519)
  • Pennsylvania is established (1681)
  • The United States Constitution goes into effect (1789)
  • Vermont becomes a state (1791)
  • In the first ever peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times, John Adams succeeds George Washington as President (1797)
  • The CSA adopts its first national flag, the “Stars and Bars” (1861)
  • The Forth Bridge, longest single cantilever bridge span in the world, opens (1890)
  • The first female representative, Jeanette Rankin, is elected to the US House of Representatives (1917)
  • The USS Cyclops disappears in the Bermuda Triangle (1918)
  • Francis Perkins, appointed by FDR as Secretary of Labor, becomes the first female Cabinet member (1933)
  • The Battle of the Bismarck Sea ends with a major US victory (1943)

It’s the birthday of —

  • Chaz Bono, offspring (1969)
  • Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, boxer (1961)
  • Mykelti Williamson, actor (1957)
  • Catherine O’Hara, actress (1954)
  • Emilio Estefan, MSM leader (1953)
  • Rick Perry, Texas governor (1950)
  • Bobby Womack, rocker (1944)
  • Paula Prentiss, actress (1938)
  • Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, custom car designer and Rat Fink creator (1932)
  • Alice Rivlin, economist (1931)
  • John Garfield, actor (1913)
  • Harry Helmsley, Leona’s husband and Empire State Building owner (1909)
  • Avery Fisher, audio engineer (1906)
  • George Gamow, physicist (1904)
  • John Scarne, card manipulator (1903)
  • Charles Goren, bridge player (1901)
  • Lefty O’Doul, baseball player (1897)
  • Dazzy Vance, baseball player (1891)
  • Pearl White, actress (1889)
  • Knute Rockne, coach (1888)
  • P. D. Ouspensky (Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский), philosopher (1878)
  • Antonio Vivaldi, composer (1678)
  • Henry the Navigator, royal explorer (1394)

Deaths —

  • Gary Gygax, D&D co-creator (2008)
  • Harry Blackmun, Supreme Court justice (1999)
  • Minnie Pearl, country comic (1996)
  • John Candy, actor (1994)
  • William Carlos Williams, poet (1963)
  • Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Out of Africa husband (1946)
  • Louis Buchalter, Louis Capone, Mendy Weiss, executed “Murder Inc.” killers (1944)
  • Jack Taylor, baseball player (1938)
  • Jesse Chisholm, trail namesake (1868)
  • Commodore Matthew Perry, Japan openr (1858)
  • Nikolai Gogol (Никола́й Го́голь), writer (1852)
  • Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria (1193)

Holidays —

  • St. Casimir’s Day (Poland and Lithuania)
  • Feast of Blessed Humbert III of Savoy and Peter of Pappacarbone (Catholicism)