March 31 The Marshall Plan, it should be noted, benefited the American economy as well. The money would be used to buy goods from the United States, and they had to be shipped across the Atlantic on American merchant vessels. But it worked. By 1953 the United States had pumped in $13 billion, and Europe was standing on its feet again. Moreover, the Plan included West Germany, which was thus reintegrated into the European community. (The aid was all economic; it did not include military aid until after the Korean War.) Aside from helping to put Europe back on its feet, the Marshall Plan led to the Schuman Plan, which in turn led to Euratom, then the Coal and Iron Community and the Common Market, and pointed to what may yet evolve into an economically and politicaly united Europe..."
1596 Birth: Rene Descartes, French philosopher. "...He was arguably the first major philosopher in the modern era to make a serious effort to defeat skepticism. His views about knowledge and certainty, as well as his views about the relationship between mind and body have been very influential over the last three centuries. Descartes was born at La Haye (now called Descartes), and educated at the Jesuit College of La Flèche between 1606 and 1614. Descartes later claimed that his education gave him little of substance and that only mathematics had given him certain knowledge. In this lament he joins a chorus of seventeenth century philosophers including Bacon, Hobbes and Locke. In 1618 he went to Holland to serve in the army of Prince Maurice of Nassau, in travelled to Germany with that army. On the night of Nov ember 10, he had a series of dreams which he interpreted as signs that he would found a universal science. The most important influence on Descartes at this time was the mathematician Issac Beeckman, who stimulated Descartes by posing a number of problem s and discusiing issues in physics and mathematics with him. His first substantial work was the Regulae or Rules for the Direction of Mind written in 1628-9 but not published until 1701. This work shows Descartes interest in method..."
1774 Coercive Acts: The British Parliament passes its second Coercive Act, the Boston Port Act. "Whereas dangerous commotions and insurrections have been fomented and raised in the town of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, by divers ill-affected persons, to the subversion of his majesty's government, and to the utter destruction of the public peace, and good order of the said town; in which commotions and insurrections certain valuable cargoes of teas, being the property of the East India Company, and on board certain vessels lying within the bay or harbor of Boston, were seized and destroyed: And whereas, in the present condition of the said town and harbor, the commerce of his majesty's subjects cannot be safely carried on there, nor the customs payable to his majesty duly collected; and it is therefore expedient that the officers of his majesty's customs should be forthwith removed from the said town...That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to..."
1809 Birth: Edward Fitzgerald. "English writer famous for compiling and translating The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of short poems attributed to the Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician Omar Khayyam. The collection's melancholy theme of "drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" described the mood of many people in England in the late 1800's. FitzGerald's translation was first published anonymously in 1859. The translation was ignored until 1860, when the famous English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his circle discovered the work and helped popularize it. FitzGerald prepared three revised editions that were published in 1868, 1872, and 1879. In addition to the Rubaiyat, FitzGerald was known for his translations of Greek and Spanish literature and for his charming letters. FitzGerald was born on March 31, 1809, in Suffolk. He died on June 14, 1883."
1811 Birth: Robert Bunsen, German chemist, inventor of the Bunsen gas burner.
1854 The Treaty of Kanagawa is signed between the United States and Japan, opening up the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to US traders. "The United States of American and the empire of Japan, desiring to establish firm, lasting and sincere friendship between the two nations, have resolved to fix, in a manner clear and positive by means of a treaty or general convention of peace and amity, the rules which shall in future be mutually observed in the intercourse of their respective countries; for which most desirable object the President of the United States has conferred full powers on his commissioner, Matthew Calbraith Perry, special ambassador of the United States to Japan and the august sovereign of Japan has given similar full powers to his commissioners, Hayashi-Daigaku-no-kami, Ido, Prince of Tsus-Sima; Izawa, Prince of Mmimasaki; and Udono, member of the Board of Revenue. And the said commissioners after having exchanged their said full powers and duly considered the premises, have agreed to the following articles: Article I: There shall be a perfect, permanent and universal peace, and a sincere and cordial amity, between the United States of American on the one part and between their people, respectfully, (respectively,) without exception of persons or places. Article II: The port of Simoda, in the principality of Idzu and the port of Hakodadi, in the pricipality of Matsmai are granted by the Japanese as ports for the reception for American ships.."
1880 The first electric street lights ever installed by a US municipality are turned on in Wabash, Indiana.
1889 The Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by its designer, French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (above), and French premier Tirard. The French tricolor is unfurled atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion, during the Universal Exhibition of Arts and Manufacturers. (Bradley)
1900 The W.E. Roach Company is the first automobile company to advertise in a national magazine; the Saturday Evening Post. Their advertising slogan, "Automobiles that give satisfaction!"
1913 Death: J.P. Morgan, in Rome, Italy. His son, J.P. (Jack) Morgan, Jr., takes over operation of his various business enterprises.
1917 The US purchase of the Danish West Indies, or Virgin Islands, for $25 million, agreed to the previous August, takes effect.
1918 Daylight Saving Time goes into effect throughout the United States for the first time.
1920 Weimar: Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler is officially discharged from the 41 Rifle Regiment of the Reichswehr.
1924 Britain's first national airline, Imperial Airways, is founded, when four companies merge. With a total of 13 aircraft, it is based at Croydon Airport.
1927 Birth: Cesar Chavez, labor leader, United Farm Workers President.
1933 US Congress authorizes the Civilian Conservation Corps.
1933 The American Jewish Committee and the B'nai B'rith issue a formal, official joint statement, counseling "that no American boycott against Germany be encouraged," and advising "that no further mass meetings be held or similar forms of agitation be employed." (Gottlieb)
1933 Church and Reich: Monsignor Kaas is back in Berlin after being recalled for talks with Hitler. (Bernhard von Bulow; Lewy)
1933 The Socialist uniformed defense force (Schutzbund) is ordered disbanded by the Austrian government.
1933 Holocaust: Oranienburg, near Berlin, is officially established as a concentration camp.
1934 John Dillinger, wanted in several states for bank robbery and murder, blasts his way out of a police trap in St. Paul, Minnesota. Firing a machine gun into a ring of police officers, America's number 1 public enemy leaps into a green sedan and speads off with two accomplices; the third time the resourceful Dillinger has escaped police capture. (Bradley)
1935 An antisemitic manifesto published in Romania calls for racial restrictions in all areas of national life.
1938 The Polish Senate passes the Expatriots Law, canceling citizenship for Polish Jews living outside the country, unless their passports are checked and stamped by Polish consular officials by the end of October. (Edelheit)
1939 Britain and France sign an agreement with Poland guaranteeing its borders against aggression. These "unconditional" guarantees concern only Poland's western border, not its frontiers with the Soviet Union. Note: David Lloyd George warns the British parliament that the agreement with Poland is meaningless without Russia's cooperation.
1939 Neville Chamberlain tells the House of Commons that the British government considers itself bound to come immediately to Poland's aid the moment the Polish government feels its existence is in danger. The news of Chamberlain's guarantee throws Hitler into a rage. (Shirer I)
1939 Germany and Spain conclude a Treaty of Friendship.
1940 WW2: The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis sets off on a mission to catch and sink Allied merchant ships. By the time the Atlantis sets sail from Germany, the Allies have already lost more than 750,000 tons worth of shipping, the direct result of German submarine attacks. They have also lost another 281,000 tons because of mines, and 36,000 tons as the result of German air raids. The Germans have lost just eighteen submarines at this point. The Atlantis had been a merchant ship itself, but was converted to a commerce raider with six 5.9-inch guns, 93 mines ready to plant, and two aircraft fit for spying out Allied ships to sink. The Atlantis will donn various disguises in order to integrate itself into any shipping milieu inconspicuously. Commanded by Captain Bernhard Rogge, the Atlantis will roam the Atlantic and Indian oceans. She will sink a total of 22 merchant ships (146,000 tons in all) and prove a terror to the British Royal Navy. The Atlantis's career will finally come to an end on 22 November 1941, when it will be sunk by the British cruiser Devonshire as the German marauder is refueling a U-boat.
1940 Holocaust: One of Professor Fischer's assistants travels to the ghetto in Lodz to take photographs to be used for comparison with pictures in a book on Jewry in antiquity, which Fischer is planning. (Science)
1941
1942 Resistance: The Gestapo raids the ghetto in Minsk, capturing several Jewish leaders who have attempted to organize a resistance group. (Atlas)
1944 WW2: The RAF loses 96 of 795 planes taking part in a raid on Nuremberg; said to be the worst losses suffered by the RAF during the entire war.
1944 Diary of Leon Gladun: (Italy) Through these days from time to time we receive a visit from a German shell. There are dead and wounded: 3 casualties so far from different detachments. As the days went by we became accustomed and no longer found the shelling disturbing.The front is not all that bad, at least so far. In fact it's better than in garrison, at least here there's no sorts of programs--you shoot either during the night or the day and after than nobody bothers you. Easter passed rather glumly. Blessings were given here and there but it was all done haphazardly. During lulls in the action we had to remind ourselves that it was Easter. On the first day of the holidays we fired as usual and they fired back as usual. Some of us thought that there might be a break--but that's all crap as our "work" went on, even more heavily than usual.
1948 The US Congress passes the Marshall Aid Act, or Marshall Plan, to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe. "...The United States offered up to $20 billion for relief, but only if the European nations could get together and draw up a rational plan on how they would use the aid. For the first time, they would have to act as a single economic unit; they would have to cooperate with each other. Marshall also offered aid to the Soviet Union and its allies in eastern Europe, but Stalin denounced the program as a trick and refused to participate. The Russian rejection probably made passage of the measure through Congress possible.
1949 Newfoundland joins the Canadian Federation as the 10th province.
1950 Editor of Scientific American, Gerard Piel, charges that 30,000 copies of the magazine were burned on demand by the Atomic Energy Commission because an article by Cornell physicist Hans Bethe contained technical data on the H-bomb.
1954 The Soviet Union offers to join NATO.
1954 The US Air Force Academy is established at Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1959 The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrives at the Indian border and is granted political asylum.
1964 In Brazil, a period of economic crisis, exacerbated by allegations of official corruption, leads to a military revolt against the government of President Joao Goulart.
1965 The Nam: President Johnson sends 3,500 US Marines into Vietnam's Da Nang.
1966 Luna 10 is launched by the USSR as a Lunar Orbiter.
1968 The Nam: President Johnson stuns the US by announcing he will not run for re-election and simultaneously orders the suspension of American bombing of North Vietnam.
1969 Delacorte Press publishes Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse Five.
1971 The Nam: US Lieutenant William Calley is sentenced to life imprisonment (later reduced to 20 years) for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in March 1968.
1976 The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan can be disconnected from her respirator. Quinlan will remained comatose until der death in 1985.
1979 The military relationship between Britain and Malta ends after 181 years with the departure of the destroyer HMS London from Valetta Harbour.
1987 The US State Department orders home all 28 remaining US Marine guards at the Moscow embassy after two Marines are charged with espionage.
1990 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warns the defiant Baltic republic of Lithuania to annul its declaration of independence.
1991 The Warsaw Pact, which had held Eastern Europe under tight Kremlin control for 36 years, formally ceases its existence as a military force when Soviet commanders surrender their powers.
1992 Israel and Spain celebrate the 500th anniversary of Roman Catholic monarchs banishing Jews from Spain with a visit to King Juan Carlos by President Chaim Herzog.
1992 The UN Security Council votes to impose air traffic and weapons sanctions against Libya for not surrendering six men wanted by the United States, Britain, France in the bombings of an American jetliner and a French plane.
1993 The UN Security Council authorises military intervention for the first time in Yugoslavia, approving the use of force to shoot down planes violating a no-fly ban over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
1994 President F. W. de Klerk announces a state of emergency to halt spiraling violence in South Africa's Zulu heartland (KwaZulu), following deadly fighting in the weeks before the country's first universal-suffrage elections.
1994 Israel and the PLO sign an agreement to put international observers in the West Bank town of Hebron, the first time Israel had agreed to an international presence in the occupied territories since it captured them in 1967.
1998 The UN Security Council votes to impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia after unrest in the Serbian province of Kosovo turns violent.
1999 As the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia continues, three US soldiers - members of the peacekeeping forces in Macedonia in the process of withdrawing - are captured by Serb troops near the Yugoslav-Macedonia border.
1999 Four New York City police officers are charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in a hail of bullets.
2001 Serbian police and security forces attempt to arrest former President Slobodan Milosevic at his home in Belgrade on charges of corruption while in office. Supporters massed at the compound prevent entry by government forces, sparking a stand-off thatwill last until the next day, when Milosevic will be taken into custody peacefully.
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