250 years ago, on March 17, 1753, the first official St Patrick's Day was celebrated in America, in New York City.
225 years ago, on March 22 1778, while the Revolutionary War raged in the east, British Captain Cook first sighted Cape Flattery, in what is now Washington State.
200 years ago, on March 1, 1803, Ohio became the 17th State of the Union.
150 years ago, on March 2, 1853, Washington Territory was carved out of Oregon-which became a state in 1859-30 years before Washington did, in 1889???. On March 4, the 14th U.S. President Franklin Pierce was sworn in, before reciting his inaugural speech from memory???. Three days later, on March 7, future Confederate President Jefferson Davis was named Secretary of War, two years after resigning from the Senate in 1851, as a protest against the Compromise of 1850???. And on March 15, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" opened at the Purdy Theater in New York.
100 years ago, on March 21, 1903, the United Mine Workers (UMW) won major concessions from Congress, after the Anthracite Coal Commission (appointed by President Teddy Roosevelt in late 1902) recommended shorter hours, a wage increase and an end to union membership restrictions. The major union victory stated: "No person shall be refused employment, or in any way discriminated against, on account of membership or non-membership in any labor organization."
25 years ago, March 16, 1978, the first of two Panama Canal treaties was ratified by the U.S. Senate, pledging to turn the Canal over to Panama by 1999. And on March 29, at the 50th anniversary Academy Awards, Supporting Actress winner Vanessa Redgrave delivered an anti-Semitic political diatribe in her acceptance talk.
20 years ago, on March 23, 1983, President Ronald Reagan called for the development of a Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space-based protective shield that would employ high-tech lasers and other devices to destroy nuclear missiles launched against the U.S. Some members of Congress lampooned the idea, calling it "Star Wars."
