Famous Events For March 16 – Today In History

March 16: Today in History – Historical Events

Early Centuries – March 16 Historic Events – Before the 1700s

1. 16th March 1190: The massacre of Jews began in York in England during the anti-Jewish riots. The Jews fled to Clifford’s tower. The rioters set fire to the tower. Jews chose to perish rather than surrender and committed mass suicide.
2. 16th March 1527: In the battle of Kanvaha in India, Baber defeated the Rajputs, removing the main resistance from Hindu rivals in North India.
3. 16th March 1690: French troops were sent to Ireland by French King Louis XIV.

18th Century – What Happened on March 16 – The 1700s

4. 16th March 1769: Journalist John Wilkins was today elected unopposed to his former seat in the British Parliament.
5. 16th March 1792: During the masquerade party King Gustav III of Sweden was shot and mortally wounded by a former member of his regiment.

19th Century – March 16 This Day That Year – The 1800s

6. 16th March 1802: The establishment of the US Military Academy at West Point in New York was today authorized by the US Congress. President Jefferson signed the measure authorizing the establishment.
7. 16th March 1827: The Freedom’s Journal, which was the first Afro-American newspaper edited for and by blacks was published today in New York City.
8. 16th March 1830: London today reorganized its police force, Scotland Yard.
9. 16th March 1833: Susan Hayhurst graduated from the Pharmacy College today. She was the first woman to graduate from the pharmacy college.
10. 16th March 1836: The Republic of Texas today approves its constitution. The Constitution legalizes slavery.

20th Century – Important Events On This Day March 16th – The 1900s

11. 16th March 1907: The world’s largest Cruiser, the Invincible of Britain was completed today at the Glasgow shipyards.
12. 16th March 1912: The first cherry tree in Washington DC was planted today by Mrs. William Howard Taft.
13. 16th March 1915: To promote consumer protection, elimination and prevention of anti-competitive business practices, and enforcing anti-trust laws, the Federal Trade Commission was formed in the US.
14. 16th March 1915: The British battle cruisers Inflexible and Irresistible today hit mines in Dardanelle in Turkey.
15. 16th March 1916: USA and Canada today signed the migratory bird treaty.
16. 16th March 1920: The British Ambassador to the US, Sir Aukland Geddes today stressed the need for mutual respect between the United States and Great Britain for peace to happen.
17. 16th March 1921: Britain today signed a bilateral trade agreement with Russia.
18. 16th March 1924: Today the free port of Fiume was formally annexed by the Italian Dictator Mussolini’s fanciest regime.
19. 16th March 1926: The first ever rocket in the world using liquid fuel was today launched today by U.S. professor and scientist Robert Hutchings Goddard Ph. D.

20. 16th March 1934: Today Congress passed the migratory bird conservation bill.
21. 16th March 1935: In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Adolf Hitler introduced compulsory military conscription in Germany and started rebuilding German armed forces including the armored division, the Navy, and the Air Force.
22. 16th March 1939: Today Hungary annexed the republic of Karpato-Ukraine.
23. 16th March 1940: An air raid was today launched by Germany on the British fleet base at Scapa Flow.
24. 16th March 1941: This day marks the opening of the National Gallery of Arts in Washington D.C.
25. 16th March 1941: North Dakota and Minnesota were today struck by a blizzard killing at least 60 people.
26. 16th March 1945: A 300-strong Japanese force launched a counter on the Island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific attack that night killing at least 100 US forces and leaving at least another 200 wounded after the Allied forces declared the Island secure earlier in the day.
27. 16th March 1945: British bombers destroyed about 90% of Wurzburg in Germany in just about 20 minutes killing about 5000 people.
28. 16th March 1947: The first American twin-engine pressurized air-plane, Convair Liner, was tested today.
29. 16th March 1948: A plane crashed into the mountains in Columbia killing fourteen people.
30. 16th March 1953: Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia visited Great Britain. He was the first communist head of state to visit Great Britain. This was followed by the visit of Antony Eden, the British foreign secretary to Yugoslavia to strengthen ties between the two countries.

31. 16th March 1953: The state of Virginia today was granted the right to enforce the right-to-work law by the US Supreme Court today.
32. 16th March 1955: President Eisenhower today upheld the use of atomic weapons in the event of a war.
33. 16th March 1959: USSR and Iraq sign economic/technical treaty today.
34. 16th March 1962: The US Super Constellation disappeared over the Pacific Ocean today killing 167 people.
35. 16th March 1964: Lyndon B Johnson today presented a $ 1 billion war on poverty program to the Congress.
36. 16th March 1965: The first ever biochemical link between cancer and cigarettes was reported on this day by Dr. William K Kerr of the Toronto Institute of Surgery by studying the effect on persons and not by statistics.
37. 16th March 1966: US astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott today performed the orbital docking in space.
38. 16th March 1968: US troops today massacred 200 to 500 unarmed villagers in North Vietnam by systematically rounding up the victims and leading them to a nearby ditch where they were executed. Some old men were killed with the bayonet. They also shot women and children praying at the temple in the back.
39. 16th March 1968: General Motors today produced its 100 millionth automobile, an Oldsmobile Tornado.

40. 16th March 1968: The brother of assassinated US President John F Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy today announced his run for the Democratic Presidential Nomination.
41. 16th March 1968: US President Lyndon B Johnson today decided to send 35,000 to 50,000 more troops to Vietnam.
42. 16th March 1970: Today the New English Bible was published.
43. 16th March 1971: The prime ministers of Northern Ireland and Britain, Chichester-Clark, and Heath met today to discuss the security situation in Northern Ireland.
44. 16th March 1972: According to some sources Howard Hughes was still in Canada contrary to the belief that he had travelled back to Britain.
45. 16th March 1973: OPEC discussed raising prices of oil prices to compensate for the decline in the value of the US dollar.
46. 16th March 1973: In return for an assured supply of Iranian oil for the next 20 years, Consortium members and the Shah of Iran today agreed to nationalize all assets immediately.
47. 16th March 1976: After being a Labor party leader for 13 years and Prime Minister of the UK for almost 8 years, he shook the political world by announcing his resignation.

48. 16th March 1977: U.S. President Jimmy Carter today pleaded for the Palestinian homeland.
49. 16th March 1978: The US Senate today accepted the Panama Canal treaty.
50. 16th March 1978: Soyuz 26 returned to earth today.
51. 16th March 1978: The Amoco Cadiz today wrecked off the coast of Portsall in France. The wreck caused a loss of 68 million gallons of oil and also caused environmental damage to almost 240 miles of the coastline of France.
52. 16th March 1978: The former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was today kidnapped by gunmen from a café in Rome after killing five armed escorts. The Red Brigade claimed responsibility.
53. 16th March 1978: The US today performed the nuclear test at its Nevada test site.
54. 16th March 1984: A pact was signed today by Mozambique and South Africa banning support of one another’s internal foes.
55. 16th March 1984: The CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, who was kidnapped by gunmen died in captivity.
56. 16th March 1985: The Islamic militants today kidnapped Terry Anderson the Middle East correspondence of Associated Press in Beirut, Lebanon.
57. 16th March 1988: During the funeral of IRA members who were shot dead in Gibraltar, a gunman opens fire and throws a grenade at the mourners at the Milltown Cemetery in North Ireland killing 3 mourners and injuring at least 50 mourners today.

58. 16th March 1988: Today it was made known by a scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union had plans to use microwaves to their advantage on land, sea, and airbases. It is regarded that microwaves can be used to destroy the system on which most military centers run.
59. 16th March 1988: Thousands of people were killed today in a poison gas attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in Northern Iraq, which is supposed to have been ordered by President Saddam Hussain.
60. 16th March 1988: Former White House aide Oliver North, former National Security Advisor John M Poindexter, retired Air Force Major General Richard V Secord, and his business partner were today indicted on charges relating to the Iran-Contra affair.
61. 16th March 1988: A mass trial for the country’s 1994 genocide of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu sympathizers began in Rwanda today.
62. 16th March 1989: The Central Committee of the Soviet communist party approved agricultural reforms. It elected 100 people to the new legislative body, the People’s Deputies.
63. 16th March 1990: Brazil today announced the New Brazil Plan, which is a collection of economic reforms and inflation stabilization measures today.
64. 16th March 1990: South African President F.W. De Klerk announced today that exiled African National Congress leaders can return home for talks with the white-led government.

65. 16th March 1993: In Somalia, a local teenager, Shidane Arone, was beaten to death by Canadian Soldiers while participating in the UN humanitarian efforts. Canada’s elite Air Borne Regiment was disbanded after an inquiry that demoralized Canadian forces and hurt their reputation locally and internationally.
66. 16th March 1994: Russia today agreed to phase out the production of weapons-grade Plutonium.
67. 16th March 1995: Norman Thagard, the astronaut from NASA was today welcomed on board of Russian Space Station Mir. He became the first American to visit the orbiting outpost.
68. 16th March 1995: Mississippi today formally ratified the 13th amendment abolishing slavery.
69. 16th March 1996: For the first time today ordinary citizens were allowed entry into the central archives of the most hated Stasi security agency, the former East German Secret Police.
70. 16th March 1997: The US Post Office declared today as the last day for buying Marlin Monroe, antique autos, and United Nations commemorative stamps.
71. 16th March 1997: King Hussein of Jordan today knelt in mourning with the families of seven Israeli school girls who were gunned down by a Jordanian soldier.
72. 16th March 1998: A top enlisted man Sgt Maj. Gene McKinney was today convicted and demoted one rank by a jury on charges of obstructing justice in a sexual misconduct case.
73. 16th March 1998: The second session for negotiating peace between North and South Vietnam is to be held in China under the guidance of the United Nations.
74. 16th March 1999: The first bus service between India and Pakistan is scheduled to begin today.
75. 16th March 1999: The former president of Ecuador Fabian Alarcon was arrested on charges of siphoning money by loading the state payroll with phantom employees while he was serving as the head of state.
76. 16th March 1999: North Korea today agreed to allow US inspectors to visit a suspected nuclear weapons site in exchange for assistance in increasing potato yield.

21st Century – March 16 This Day In History – The 2000s

77. 16th March 2000: Independent counsel Robert Ray said that he did not find any credible evidence that Hillary Rodham Clinton or senior White House officials had sought FBI background files of Republicans.
78. 16th March 2000: This was one of the busiest trading days in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. The Doe Jones index shot up by 500 points.
79. 16th March 2000: Today the Vermont state House of Representatives voted 76-69 in favor of a bill to give same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities granted to homosexuals.
80. 16th March 2000: Following publication of a critical report of sloppy management of Cronyism the entire 20-member European Commission resigned from office today.
81. 16th March 2000: In Pakistan, Javed Iqbal (42) who had killed 100 children was today sentenced by a judge to die the same way his victims died, by strangulation, dismemberment, and dissolved in acid.
82. 16th March 2001: Saudi Arabian commandos today freed over 100 hijacked hostages held by Chechen rebels in a Russian plane. Three people including a hijacker, an airline staff and a passenger were killed.
83. 16th March 2003: President Bush today met Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK, and Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain in the Azores and asserted that they were ready to go to war with or without UN endorsement and said: “Tomorrow is the moment of truth to the world”.
84. 16th March 2003: A 23-year-old American, Rachel Corrie, who was protesting over Israel’s operation in Gaza was run over by a bulldozer and was killed while trying to block troops from demolishing Palestinian homes.
85. 16th March 2003: The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place as part of a global protest against the Iraq war.
86. 16th March 2006: The United Nations General Assembly today voted overwhelmingly to establish the UN Human Rights Council.

87. 16th March 2006: Today marks the first meeting of the newly elected parliament of Iraq.
88. 16th March 2006: It was the 4th time the national debt limit was increased in the United States after George Bush assumed office as president, this time it was raised to $9 trillion. This will enable the government to pay for its expensive packages without raising taxes.
89. 16th March 2010: The Obama administration has decided to halt further work on the erection of a virtual fence that runs along the Mexican and US border.
90. 16th March 2012: In Oakland California, charges were filed against a former manager of the postal service vehicle operations, Balvinder Singh Chedda for illegally billing $ 4 million for steering contracts to a truck leasing company run by him and his wife. They both pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.
91. 16th March 2012: Moldova today elected independent judge Nicolae Timofti as its President after three years of political stalemate in the country.
92. 16th March 2012: Cincinnati, Ohio was on this day ranked as the number one city in the list of American cities with the most bed bugs.
93. 16th March 2012: A Turkish NATO helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of Kabul in Afghanistan killing 10 people.
94. 16th March 2013: Today was a historic day for Pakistan as Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s government completed its full term. This was the first time in the history of Pakistan that an elected government had completed its full term.
95. 16th March 2013: Zimbabwe votes on a referendum for a proposal of all parties to curb Presidential powers.
96. 16th March 2013: A bus carrying soldiers slid off a mountainous road and fell into a deep ravine in Pakistan killing 24 and injuring five others.
97. 16th March 2013: Soyuz space capsule carrying an American and two Russians landed in Kazakhstan. The men had spent 144 days in the Int’l space station 3.
98. 16th March 2014: Amidst international condemnation of its designs votes in Crimea voted overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and join Russia.
99. 16th March 2014: In an online opinion poll conducted by Independence activists to gauge the opinions of Venice and the surrounding region to break away from Italy, it was found that two-thirds of the region’s population were in favor of independence. However, none of the polls conducted were considered legally binding.
100. 16th March 2016: US President Barack Obama today nominated Merrick Garland as Justice of the Supreme Court.

See Also:

Sun Signs Everything Under The Sun!