It is 啓蟄 (Keichitsu) in the Japanese calendar.
Events 1447 - Nicholas V becomes Pope. 1460 - Treaty of Alcacovas - Portugal gives Castile the Canary Islands in exchange for claims in West Africa. 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam. 1820 - For the second time the Missouri Compromise is signed by President James Monroe. The compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, but made the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free. 1834 - York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto. 1836 - After a 13-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 189 Texas volunteers defending the Alamo are defeated and the fort taken. 1857 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case. 1899 - Bayer registeres aspirin as a trademark. 1900 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners. 1901 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany. 1946 - Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. 1947 - The Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia. 1951 - The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins. 1953 - Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Josef Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 1957 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana. 1964 - Constantine II becomes King of Greece. 1964 - Tom O'Hara sets a new world record for the indoor mile run by completing it in 3 minutes, 56.4 seconds. 1970 - Cult leader and suspected murderer Charles Manson releases an album titled Lies to help finance his defense. 1975 - Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute. 1981 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time. 1983 - The United States Football League begins its first year of competition. 1984 - Twelve month long strike in British coal industry begins. 1987 - Off the coast of Belgium in the English Channel, the British ferry The Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes killing 189. 1992 - The 'Michelangelo' computer virus begins to affect computers. 1997 - Picasso's Tete de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (it was recovered a week later). Births 1475 - Michelangelo Buonarroti, painter († 1564) 1619 - Cyrano de Bergerac, soldier, poet 1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet († 1861) 1831 - Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, theologian († 1910) 1885 - Ring Lardner, writer (†1933) 1898 - Therese Giehse, actress († 1975) 1904 - Joseph Schmidt, tenor (†1942) 1905 - Bob Wills, country music singer († 1975) 1906 - Lou Costello, actor, comedian († 1959) 1923 - Ed McMahon, television personality 1923 - Jürgen von Manger, cabaretist († 1994) 1926 - Alan Greenspan, American economist 1926 - Andrzej Wajda, Polish film director 1927 or 1928 - Gabriel García Márquez, writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1982 1927 - Wes Montgomery, musician 1927 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut 1929 - Günter Kunert, writer and lyricist 1930 - Lorin Maazel, opera conductor 1936 - Marion Barry Jr, mayor of Washington, DC 1937 - Valentina Tereshkova, cosmonaut 1941 - Willie Stargell, Baseball Hall of Famer 1944 - Kiri Te Kanawa, opera singer 1946 - David Gilmour, musican ("Pink Floyd") 1947 - Rob Reiner, actor, comedian, movie producer 1947 - Dick Fosbury, athlete 1947 - Kiki Dee, singer 1959 - Tom Arnold, actor, comedian 1972 - Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player Deaths 1888 - Louisa May Alcott, novelist 1929 - David Buick, automobile pioneer 1932 - John Philip Sousa, band leader, conductor, composer 1933 - Anton Cermak, mayor of Chicago, Illinois, wounded weeks earlier by an assassin's bullet intended for Franklin D. Roosevelt, dies of his injuries 1941 - Gutzon Borglum, sculptor 1951 - Ivor Novello, actor, musician, composer 1965 - Margaret Dumont, actress 1967 - Zoltán Kodály, composer 1967 - Nelson Eddy, singer, actor 1973 - Pearl S. Buck, writer 1976 - Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, boxer, actor 1982 - Ayn Rand, author 1986 - Georgia O'Keeffe, artist Holidays and observances See Also: March 5 - March 7 - February 6 - April 6 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
March 5 - March 7 - February 6 - April 6 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December