GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS SUNDAY, March 26, the 85th day of 2017 with 280 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 6:37 and sunset is @ 7:02. The moon is waning. The morning stars are stars are Jupiter, Saturn & Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Neptune, Uranus & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1026 – Conrad II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XIX.
1799 – Napoleon captured Jaffa Palestine.
1780 – The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor was published for the first time. It was the first Sunday newspaper in Britain.
1793 – The Holy Roman Emperor formally declared war on France.
1804 – The U.S. Congress ordered the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi to Louisiana.
1804 – The Louisiana Purchase was divided into the District of Louisiana and the Territory of Orleans.
1854 – Charles III, duke of Parma, was attacked by an assassin. He died the next day.
1871 – The Paris Commune was formally set up.
1878 – Hastings College of Law was founded.
1885 – Eastman Kodak (Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co.) produced the first commercial motion picture film in Rochester, NY.
1898 – In South Africa, the world’s first game reserve, the Sabi Game reserve, was designated.
1909 – Russian troops invaded Persia to support Muhammad Ali as shah in place of the constitutional government.
1910 – The U.S. Congress passed an amendment to the 1907 Immigration Act that barred criminals, paupers, anarchists and carriers of disease from settling in the U.S.
1913 – During the Balkan War, the Bulgarians took Adrianople.
1917 – At the start of the battle of Gaza, the British cavalry withdrew when 17,000 Turks blocked their advance.
1937 – Spinach growers in Crystal City, TX, erected a statue of Popeye.
1938 – Herman Goering warned all Jews to leave Austria.
1942 – The Germans began sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.
1945 – The battle of Iwo Jima ended.
1945 – In the Aleutians, the battle of Komandorski began when the Japanese attempted to reinforce a garrison at Kiska and were intercepted by a U.S. naval force.
1951 – The U.S. Air Force flag was approved. The flag included the coat of arms, 13 white stars and the Air Force seal on a blue background.
1953 – Dr. Jonas Salk announced a new vaccine that would prevent poliomyelitis.
1956 – Red Buttons made his debut as a television actor in “Studio One” on CBS television.
1958 – The U.S. Army launched America’s third successful satellite, Explorer III.
1962 – The U.S. Supreme Court supported the 1-man-1-vote apportionment of seats in the State Legislature.
1969 – The TV movie “Marcus Welby” was seen on ABC-TV. It was later turned into a series.
1971 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared East Pakistan to be the independent republic of Bangladesh.
1971 – “Cannon” premiered on CBS-TV as a movie. It was turned into a series later in the year.
1972 – The Los Angeles Lakers broke a National Basketball Association (NBA) record by winning 69 of their 82 games.
1973 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took over the premiership and said “the stage of total confrontation (with Israel) has become inevitable.”
1973 – Women were allowed on the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time.
1979 – The Camp David treaty was signed by Israel and Egypt that ended the 31-year state of war between the countries.
1981 – In Great Britain, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) gained official recognition.
1982 – Ground breaking ceremonies were held in Washington, DC, for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1983 – The U.S. performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.
1989 – The first free elections took place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin was elected.
1991 – The presidents of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay signed an agreement that established the Southern Cone Common Market, a free-trade zone, by January 1, 1995.
1992 – In Indianapolis, heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was found guilty of rape. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. He only served three.
1995 – Seven of the 15 European Union states abolished border controls.
1996 – The International Monetary Fund approved a $10.2 billion loan for Russia to help the country transform its economy.
1997 – The 39 bodies of Heaven’s Gate members are found in a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. The group had committed suicide thinking that they would be picked up by a spaceship following behind the comet Hale-Bopp.
1998 – In the U.S., the Federal government endorses new HIV test that yields instant results.
1998 – Unisys Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. pay a $3.15 million fine for selling spare parts at inflated prices to the U.S. federal government.
1999 – The macro virus “Melissa” was reported for the first.
1999 – In Michigan, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder for giving a terminally ill man a lethal injection and putting it all on videotape on September 17, 1998 for “60 Minutes.”
2000 – The Seattle Kingdome was imploded to make room for a new football arena.
2000 – In Russia, acting President Vladimir Putin was elected president outright. He won a sufficient number of votes to avoid a runoff election.
2007 – The design for the “Forever Stamp” was unveiled by the U.S. Postal Service.