On This Day in History - March 4th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, March 4, the 64th day of 2024 with 302 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mars and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Portuguese Prince Henry, the Navigator, in 1394; composer Antonio Vivaldi in 1678; legendary Notre Dame football Coach Knute Rockne in 1888; actor John Garfield in 1913; author Alan Sillitoe in 1928; economist Alice Rivlin in 1931; actor/singer Barbara McNair in 1934; actor Paula Prentiss in 1938 (age 86); author James Ellroy in 1948 (age 76); Rick Perry, former energy secretary/Texas governor, in 1950 (age 74); musician/actor/producer Emilio Estefan in 1953 (age 71); actor Catherine O'Hara in 1954 (age 70); actor Patricia Heaton in 1958 (age 66); actor Steven Weber in 1961 (age 63); musician Jason Newsted in 1963 (age 61); Afghan writer Khaled Hosseini in 1965 (age 59); filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson in 1967 (age 57); Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in 1968 (age 56); television personality/activist Chaz Bono in 1969 (age 55); U.S. soccer player Landon Donovan in 1982 (age 42); actor Tamzin Merchant in 1987 (age 37); actor Josh Bowman in 1988 (age 36); television personality Bobbi Kristina Brown in 1993; model Brooklyn Beckham in 1999 (age 25); actor Miya Cech in 2007 (age 17).

On this date in history:

In 1681, to satisfy a debt, England's King Charles II granted a royal charter, deed and the governorship of Pennsylvania to William Penn. Penn founded Philadelphia -- the one-time capital of the United States and now the state's largest city -- a year later.

In 1789, the U.S. Congress met for the first time, in New York City.

In 1791, Vermont was admitted to the United States as the 14th state.

In 1797, John Adams took the oath of office as the second president of the United States.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the first president to be inaugurated in Washington.

In 1809, James Madison took the oath of office as the fourth president of the United States.

In 1825, John Quincy Adams took the oath of office as the sixth president of the United States.

In 1829, Andrew Jackson took the oath of office as the seventh president of the United States.

In 1837, the city of Chicago was incorporated. In 1929, belief that the powerful forces of gangland had stretched tentacles into the innermost councils of the police department was being investigated by the state's attorney's office.

In 1837, Martin Van Buren took the oath of office as the eighth president of the United States.

In 1841, William Henry Harrison took the oath of office as the ninth president of the United States.

In 1845, James Polk took the oath of office as the 11th president of the United States.

In 1853, Franklin Pierce took the oath of office as the 14th president of the United States.

In 1857, James Buchanan took the oath of office as the 15th president of the United States.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office last the 16th president of the United States.

In 1869, Ulysses Grant took the oath of office as the 18th president of the United States.

In 1877, Swan Lake, a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was first performed at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

In 1881, James Garfield took the oath of office as the 20th president of the United States.

In 1885, Grover Cleveland took the oath of office as the 22nd president of the United States. He also was inaugurated as the 24th president on this day in 1893.

In 1889, Benjamin Harrison took the oath of office as the 23rd president of the United States.

In 1897, William McKinley took the oath of office as the 25th president of the United States.

In 1909, the Taft administration was ushered in with a baptism of snow and slush accompanied by a 75 mph gale. Despite weather conditions, the inauguration parade, or, rather a portion of it, was held. William Taft was the 27th president.

In 1913, laughter and tears marked the passage of the 62nd United States Congress. Humor and pathos, congratulations and condolences, were the final scenes closing the old Congress as a defeated "Uncle Joe" Cannon departed the Capitol.

In 1913, Woodrow Wilson took the oath of office to become the 28th president of the United States.

In 1917, Jeanette Rankin, a Montana Republican, was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives. She was the first woman to serve in Congress.

In 1921, Warren G. Harding took the oath of office as the 29th president of the United States.

In 1929, Herbert Hoover took the oath of office as the 31th president of the United States.

In 1933, Frances Perkins was sworn in as U.S. labor secretary, becoming the first female member of the Cabinet.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt took the oath of office as the 32nd president of the United States.

In 1958, the U.S. atomic submarine Nautilus reached the North Pole by passing beneath the Arctic ice cap. It would become the first submarine to pass underneath the North Pole later that year.

In 1966, John Lennon told Britain's Evening Standard that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." The comments sparked condemnation and protests the following summer.

In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan acknowledged his administration swapped arms to Iran for U.S. hostages and said, "It was a mistake."

In 1994, four men were found guilty in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. In 2021, one of the convictions of three of the defendants, Ahmed Ajaj, Mahmud Abouhalima and Mohammed A. Salameh, were overturned.

In 1999, a U.S. Marine pilot whose plane had snapped a ski-lift cable in Italy, killing 20 people, was acquitted of charges of involuntary homicide and manslaughter.

In 2005, homemaking guru Martha Stewart returned home after serving five months in a federal prison for conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators.

In 2015, a report released by the Department of Justice found that the Ferguson Police Department routinely performed "suspicionless, legally unsupportable stops" against the Black residents of the Missouri city.

In 2022, Russian forces took control of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.

In 2023, nearly 200 countries signed the High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters.

A thought for the day: "Of all possessions a friend is the most precious." -- Greek historian Herodotus