On This Day - March 8th

On this day in the year 764 of the common era (CE) K'inich K'uk' Bahlum becomes king of the Maya city of Palenque, he is the last known ruler before the city's collapse. 

On this day in the year 1531 CE king Henry VIII is recognized as the supreme head of the Church in England by the Convocation of Canterbury, one more step in a series of moves that led to hundreds of years of religious war in Europe; two hundred and ninety-eight years later, the British North America Act is passed in the Canadian House of Commons, and serves as Canada's constitution for more than one hundred years. One hundred and ninety-three years after that, in 2022 CE the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon formally apologizes to the four thousand Scots (mostly women), who were accused of witchcraft, tortured, tried and ritually murdered between 1563 CE and 1736 CE.

On this day in 1817 CE the New York Stock Exchange is founded in New York, New York; seventy-seven years later, the state of New York enacts the nation's first dog-licensing law.

In 1855 CE a train crosses the first railway suspension bridge in the United States, at Niagara Falls, New York to Canada, making the trip for the first time; ninety-one years later, the first helicopter is licensed for commercial use in New York, New York.

In 1861 CE the city of St Augustine, Florida surrenders to the Union army; it is the oldest city in North America, and my mother grew up there for a while in the segregated South; forty-seven years later, the U.S. invades Cuba for third time, this time to end the corrupt Menocal regime.

Fifty three years after that, in 1961 CE, the U.S.S. Patrick Henry, a nuclear submarine, arrives at the Scottish naval base of Holy Loch from South Carolina in a record underseas journey of sixty-six days and twenty-two hours; four years later the first “official” U.S. combat forces arrive in Vietnam, on the beaches of Da Nang (the United States had been involved in combat missions in Vietnam since at least 1957, my father was there with Force Recon, as an Airbourne Ranger.

In 1884 CE Susan B. Anthony addresses the Judiciary Committee on the United States (U.S.) House of Representatives, arguing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote; this occurs sixteen years after legislators first introduced a federal women's suffrage amendment. Thirty-three years later the Russian "February Revolution" gathers momentum in Russia with protests celebrating Women's Day, and riots in St. Petersburg over food rations and conduct of the Russian forces in World War I. Twenty-eight years after that, in 1945 CE, International Women's Day is first observed; on that same day, Phyllis M. Daley becomes the first African-American nurse commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. Five years later the first female medical is officer assigned to naval vessel, the B.R. Walters.

In 1900 CE, baseball’s National League decides to go with eight teams, they exclude Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville & Washington (in 1953 the Boston Braves move to Milwaukee); thirteen years later, Major League Baseball organizes the Federal League organizes with 6 teams, including the Chicago Whales, who built and played at Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field). The endeavor folds after three seasons. Seventeen years after that, in 1930 CE, slugger Babe Ruth signs a two-year contract with the New York Yankees, for a whopping one hundred and sixty-thousand dollars. General Manager Ed Barrow, wrongly predicts "No one will ever be paid more than Ruth;" eleven years later, Hugh Mulcahy of the Philadelphia Phillies becomes the first MLB baseball player drafted into World War II  

In 1913 CE the Internal Revenue Service begins to levy and collect income taxes; four years later, at the urging of U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson, the Senate introduces the “Cloture Rule,” requiring a two-thirds majority to end debate,

In 1929 CE the U.S. Worker Union commissions a report on the state of slavery in Liberia; thirty-five years later, Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam. Twenty-nine years after that, Nigerian singer Fela Kuti is arrested again on suspicion of murder.

In 1934 CE, a photograph is presented by Edwin Hubble showing that the Universe has at least as many galaxies as the Milky Way galaxy has stars, marking a staggering leap in our understanding of the size and age of the created order; forty-five years later, the first extraterrestrial volcano is discovered on Jupiter's moon Io. Forty-five years after that, in 2024 CE, a report by the Pentagon finds no evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence interacting with human civilization based on a search of records going back to `945 CE.

In 1948 CE the U.S. Supreme Court rules in McCollum v. Board of Education that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional; ten years later, William Faulkner says that U.S. schools had degenerated so far that teachers are now merely babysitters. Sixty-four years after that, in 2022 CE, the Florida Senate passes the controversial "Parental Rights in Education bill, known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, restricting teachers from discussing gender identity with students in any context.

In 1957 CE the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics performs an atmospheric nuclear test; five years later the U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. Eleven years after, in 1972 CE we do it again, and again seven years later. Three years after that, in 1983 CE the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee endorses a nuclear weapons freeze with U.S.S.R.; eight years later the U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

In 1959 CE, Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx make their final television appearance together; three years later, the Beatles (with Pete Best) make their British Broadcasting Corporation radio debut with a cover of Roy Orbison's: Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream), recorded the previous evening on stage at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester. Nine years after that, in 1971 CE Radio Hanoi broadcasts Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner; seven years later the first-ever radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams is transmitted on BBC Radio 4. Eighteen years after that, in 1996 CE, the film Fargo directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen, filmed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi, is released in the United States.

In 1966 CE, an Irish Republican Army bomb destroys Nelson's Column in Dublin; five years later, a gun battle between Official Irish Republican Army and Provisional Irish Republican Army leave one man killed; it is the result of feud between two wings of the IRA developing since the split in 1970. Three years after that, in 1973 CE the Provisional IRA undertakes its first operation in Great Britain, planting four car bombs in London. Ten members of PIRA are later arrested at Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the country.

In 1971 CE it was billed as “The Fight of the Century;” Muhammad Ali, who had been stripped of his World Heavyweight Championship Title and suspended from boxing for three years after refusing to serve in the Vietnam war, the 31-0 Ali took on Joe Frazier, the man who had taken his title, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York…Ali lost by unanimous decision in the fifteenth round.

In 1983 CE, IBM releases PC DOS version 2.0; seven years later new York City’s Zodiac killer shoots his first victim, Mario Orosco

In 2017 CE researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia present and Aboriginal DNA study, showing that the Aboriginal population dates back 50,000 years from a single migration.

In 2020 CE, America registers five hundred and twenty-one cases of COVID-19 with twenty-one deaths across thirty-three states; also on this day Italy announces it is locking down the northern region of Lombardy, including Milan, with sixteen million people, as COVID-19 cases reach five thousand, eight hundred with two hundred and thirty-three deaths.

In 2022 CE, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy invokes Winston Churchill while speaking virtually to the parliament of the United Kingdom, saying: "We will not fail. We will fight till the end..." the war continues.

In 2023 Ce the oldest known reference to the Norse god Odin is found by Danish researchers in Western Denmark, dating back to the fifth century, it is written on gold disc from the Vindelev hoard; one year later Sweden officially joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization as the alliance's thirty-second member, abandoning their two-hundred-year policy of neutrality.