March 4 Historical Events

The following events took place on March 4. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 63 events. Showing 31 - 60.

• 1908
  The Collinwood school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
• 1909
  U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution’s Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State
• 1913
  First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.
• 1913
  The United States Department of Labor is formed.
• 1917
  Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
• 1918
  The USS Cyclops departs from Barbados and is never seen again, presumably lost with all hands in the Bermuda Triangle.
• 1933
  Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
• 1933
  The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
• 1941
  World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid.
• 1943
  World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.
• 1944
  World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.
• 1945
  Lapland War: Finland declares war on Nazi Germany.
• 1957
  The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
• 1960
  The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba killing 100.
• 1962
  A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 – the worst crash of a DC-7.

• 1966
  A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
• 1970
  French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
• 1974
  People magazine is published for the first time in the United States as People Weekly.
• 1976
  The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament.
• 1977
  The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in the seriously damaged city of Bucharest, Romania.
• 1980
  Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe’s first black prime minister.
• 1983
  Bertha Wilson is appointed the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• 1985
  The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
• 1986
  The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley’s Comet and the first images of its nucleus.
• 1991
  Sheikh Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait, returns to his country for the first time since Iraq’s invasion.
• 1996
  A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, US, causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.
• 1998
  Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
• 2001
  BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person. The attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
• 2001
  Hintze Ribeiro disaster: A bridge collapses in northern Portugal, killing up to 70 people.
• 2002
  Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.