Calendar for March 9th, 2013

Belize: Baron Bliss Day

St. Frances of Rome: Feast Day

2001: Ash Wednesday

2001: Commonwealth Day (Gibraltar)

2002: Daylight Saving Time Begins at 2:00 A.M.

Born 1454: Amerigo Vespucci (merchant & navigator)

1796: Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine de Beauharnais in Paris--he arrived two hours late for the wedding

Born 1806: Edwin Forrest (Shakespearean actor)

1820: President James Monroe's daughter, Maria, became the first daughter of a president to be married in the White House

1822: A patent for artificial teeth was granted to Charles Graham of New York

1832: Abraham Lincoln announced he was running for his first political office. He failed for his bid for a seat in the Illinois legislature

1860: First Japanese Ambassador to U.S. arrived in San Francisco, CA

1862: Battle of U.S.S. Monitor and U.S.S. Merrimack (renamed C.S.S. Virginia) ended in a draw

Born 1902: Will Geer (actor)

Born 1910: Samuel Barber (composer)

Born 1918: Mickey Spillane (author)

1932: First V-8 Ford was built by Ford Motor Company

1933: The Hundred Days began. President FDR pushed sweeping social and economic reforms of the New Deal through Congress within the next 100 days

Born 1934: Yuri Gagarin (first human to travel in space)

Born 1940: Raul Julia (actor)

Born 1943: Charles Gibson (journalist)

Born 1943: Bobby Fischer (champion chess player)

Born 1947: David Hume Kennerly (photographer)

1954: Journalist Edward R. Murrow accused Sen. McCarthy of misleading the U.S. public and persecuting Congressional witnesses

1955: Celebrity premiere of East of Eden, the film version of John Stienbeck's novel

1959: Barbie doll debuted

1961: The first animal to return from space was a dog whose Russian name translated as Blackie, aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 9

Born 1964: Juliette Binoche (actress)

1969: The Smothers Brothers' television show was cancelled after they refused to censor a comment made by Joan Baez. She wanted to dedicate her song to her husband, David, who was about to go to jail for objecting to the draft

Born 1971: Emmanuel Lewis (actor)

1975: Work began on the 789-mile Alaskan oil pipeline, the largest private construction project in U.S. history

1977: Health and Welfare Canada banned saccharin as a food additive

1983: Anne M. Burford was forced to resign as head of the EPA following a dispute with Congress over the agency's enforcement of toxic waste regulations

1987: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and Carole Bayer Sager were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Born 1987: Lil' Bow Wow (rapper, actor)

1989: President George H. W. Bush's nominee for defense secratary, John Tower, lost Senate ratification vote

Died 1994: Charles Bukowski (poet)

Died 1994: Fernando Rey (actor)

Died 1996: George Burns (comedian & actor)

Died 2005: Chris LeDoux (country musician)

Died 2007: Brad Delp (musician)

Died 2010: Doris "Granny D" Haddock (political activist)