This Week in History: March 14th – 20th

Welcome to this week’s edition of the staff blog’s ‘This Week in History!’ You will find historical facts, happenings, and associated books; #1 box office movies; and #1 NY Times best sellers from years gone by, all with book recommendations included based on each topic. This will be a weekly feature, so make sure to check out each week’s posting! NOTE: Click on any of the below book/movie titles to be taken to them in our online Café catalog!

 

NY Times Fiction Bestsellers

 

#1 Box Office Movies

 

This Week in History

  • March 14th
    • 1879- Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, Germany. (World)
    • 1950- The FBI debuts its “10 Most Wanted Fugitives” List. (United States)
    • 1964- In the first courtroom verdict to be televised in the United States, Jack Ruby is found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. (United States)
  • March 15th
    • 44 BC- Julius Caesar is assassinated on the Ides of March. (World)
    • 1917- Czar Nicholas II abdicates the Russian throne in the lead-up to the Russian Revolution. (World)
    • 2019- A gunman opens fire on two different mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand during Friday Prayer, killing 51 and wounding 40, in the first act of mass gun violence in New Zealand history. (World)
  • March 16th
    • 1802- The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY is established. (United States)
    • 1945- The U.S. Marines finally capture the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during WWII after fierce multi-week fighting. (United States/World)
    • 1968- Members of the U.S. Army massacre unarmed Vietnamese men, women, and children at My Lai, one of a cluster of small villages located near the northern coast of South Vietnam. (United States/World)
  • March 17th
    • 461- Saint Patrick, a Christian missionary, bishop, and apostle of Ireland, dies at Downpatrick, Ireland. (World)
    • 1905- Eleanor Roosevelt, niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, marries her distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, later the U.S. president from 1933-1945. (United States)
    • 1992- Nearly 69% of white South African voters voted to repeal racially discriminatory nationwide laws, effectively endorsing the dismantling of apartheid. (World)
  • March 18th
    • 1766- The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act of 1765 after violent protests from American colonists. (United States/World)
    • 1925- The deadliest tornado in U.S. history, named the Tri-State Tornado, kills 695 people as it sweeps across eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana. (United States)
    • 1953- The Boston Braves announce they are moving from Boston to Milwaukee. (Wisconsin/United States)
  • March 19th
    • 1931- Nevada legalizes gambling, paving the way for casinos in the state and the rise of Las Vegas in American popular culture. (United States)
    • 1957- Elvis Presley puts his first down payment on the home that came to be known as Graceland, cementing the house’s place in American pop culture lore. (United States)
    • 2003- U.S. President George W. Bush orders air strikes on Baghdad, thus beginning the Iraq War that would oust dictator Saddam Hussein while causing massive unrest throughout Iraq and much of the Middle East, leading to the rise of ISIS and other Islamic extremist terrorist organizations. (United States/World)
  • March 20th
    • 1854- The Republican Party is founded in Ripon, WI by Free Soilers and Whig party members outraged by passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. (Wisconsin/United States)
    • 1958- An angry mob torches serial killer Ed Gein’s home in Plainfield in response to rumors that it would be purchased at auction and reopened for tourism. (Wisconsin)
    • 1995- Top leaders of AUM Shinrikyo (‘Supreme Truth’ in Japanese), a fringe religious cult in Japan, release nerve gas into a Tokyo subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands. (World)

Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings: