On This Day Archive for March 2009

March 31, 1951: The first UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer produced in the U.S., is delivered to the U.S. Census bureau

for March 31, 2009

From the March 17, 1950 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
‘Univac’ Electronic Computer Acquired by Remington Rand
NEW YORK
     The “Univac” electronic computing machine, which can speedily solve almost any mathematical problem from simple business arithmetic to the most complex calculations in nuclear physics, actuarial statistics and astronomy has been added to the Remington Rand [...]

March 30, 1981: President Ronald Reagan is shot in an assassination attempt by gunman John Hinckley, Jr.

for March 30, 2009

From the April 1, 1981 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Suspect in assassination attempt: gun-toting ‘loner’
 
WASHINGTON - 
As details about the background to John Warnock (Jack) Hinckley Jr. begin to emerge, they are not as yet sufficient to explain why the 25-year-old Coloradan would attempt to assassinate President Reagan.
According to a statement released by Mr. Hinckley’s [...]

March 27, 1990: The U.S. begins broadcasting TV Marti to Cuba in an effort to breach the Castro regime’s information blackout

for March 27, 2009

From the June 25, 1990 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Testing period ends Today for TV Marti; Congress
Awaits Report From Bush
WASHINGTON—
RECENT Cuban exiles have testified to the strong impact on the island of five-year-old Radio Marti, the official United States broadcasts to communist Cuba. So television seemed like a “natural escalation,” says TV Marti director [...]

March 26, 2006: The military junta ruling Burma officially names Naypyidaw, a new city, as the new capital replacing Yangon

for March 26, 2009

From the October 31, 2007 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Stumbling through Burma’s new capital
Hacked out of malarial jungle, Burma’s new capital is a medley of mammoth buildings and quiet zones, built by an army of poor laborers
When the deeply-rutted village tracks morphed into wide, paved, six-lane roads, I knew I was nearing Burma’s new [...]

March 25, 1965: Civil rights activists led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. complete a 50-mile march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital

for March 25, 2009

From the March 24, 1965 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Calm greets Alabama march

Montgomery, Ala.
     White Alabamians have for the most part reacted quietly to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s much publicized 50-mile march from Selma to the state capital.  
     The Rev. Dr. King said after the march was under [...]

March 24, 2008: The nation Bhutan becomes a democracy and holds its first general election.

for March 24, 2009

From the March 25, 2008 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Bhutan makes it official: it’s a democracy
The DPT swept 44 of 47 seats in the new National Assembly
BABESA, BHUTAN - In warm spring sunshine, hundreds of thousands of Bhutanese queued to cast their ballots in the world’s newest democracy yesterday. The elections will transform this diminutive [...]

March 22, 1990: Exxon Valdez tanker captain Joseph Hazelwood convicted of 1 of 4 charges in oil spill of 10 million gallons in Prince William Sound

for March 22, 2009

From the March 23, 1990 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Alaska tries to keep Big Oil from Colliding with its Future
VALDEZ, ALASKA—
 
THE fundamental conflict facing Alaska is visible from the wharf here on the edge of Prince William Sound. All around loom the serrated caps of the Chugach Mountains, whose steep walls, cloaked in winter [...]

March 19, 2003: The Iraq war begins with an American-led coalition and cruise missile strikes aimed at Saddam Hussein in Baghdad

for March 19, 2009

From the March 20, 2003 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Timeline: The road to war in Iraq 
 
 
1990 Aug. 2 - Iraq invades Kuwait. The UN Security Council calls for a full withdrawal.
 
1990 Aug. 6 - UN imposes economic sanctions on Iraq.
 
1990 Nov. 29 - UN orders Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait by Jan. 15, 1991.
 
1991 [...]

March 22, 1990: 13 works of art including Rembrandts & a Vermeer, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the largest art theft in US history

for March 18, 2009

From the March 22, 1990 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Museums review security systems
BOSTON—
AS average citizens and aficionados alike become fascinated over the heady prices that fine art is commanding today - so does the cunning thief. Rising market values for paintings and other objects have prompted an increase in the number of art thefts [...]

March 17, 2005: Congressional hearing is held on steroids in Major League Baseball

for March 17, 2009

From the March 17, 2005 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
US Congress as baseball’s cleanup hitter
 
WASHINGTON – When the major leagues recently proclaimed that baseball was coming back to Washington, this is hardly what they had in mind.
 
The arrival of the Washington Nationals this spring was meant to herald the return of the national pastime [...]