Man, I remember the My Lai firestorm well. So much we didn't know or understand then. Such a different world.
On March 17, 1969, Golda Meir is elected Prime Minister of Israel. She is just the fourth female prime minister of any country, and to date remains Israel and the Middle East's only female PM. Born in the Ukraine in 1898, she emigrated with her family to Wisconsin at age 8, then moved to Palestine upon her marriage in 1921. Meir was active in the Zionist movement in Palestine (including frequent political trips to America) until the establishment of the Israeli nation in 1948, when she was appointed Ambassador to Russia. Various ministerial appointments followed until her election as the nation's fourth PM. She served until 1973, when anger over the government's being caught by surprise by the Yom Kippur War forced her resignation. She died in 1978. On March 17, 1958, the U.S. launches Vanguard 1 into earth orbit. It is the fourth orbital satellite and the first to rely on solar power for its mission, to take geodetic measurements of earth. Vanguard 1's data showed scientists that the earth is actually shaped more like a pear than a globe. It transmitted data until 1964, when the telemetry failed. However, Vanguard 1 - all 3 pounds and 6 inch diameter (3 feet with the antennas) of her - is still in orbit, making it the oldest derelict circling the earth. Its estimated her orbit will survive another 240 years. (photo is a full scale model) On March 17, 1985, Rosemead CA (a suburb of LA) roommates Maria Hernandez and Yoshie Okazaki are shot by a home invader. Okazaki is killed; Hernandez survives. Less than an hour later, a third woman, Tsai-Lian "Veronica" Yu, is pulled from her car in nearby Monterey Park and shot to death. Media accounts describe a curly haired assailant with wide eyes and rotting teeth. They are the second, third and fourth victims of Richard Ramirez, a 25-year old Texas transplant, soon to be known as "the Night Stalker" (An earlier killing, nearly a year earlier, would be tied to Ramirez decades later). Over the next 5 months, Ramirez would commit 14 attacks in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Nine of the attacks involved multiple victims, two involved children. He was apprehended a week after his last attack, and was eventually convicted on 13 counts of murder, 5 attempted murder, 11 sexual assault and 14 burglaries. Sentenced to the gas chamber in 1989, he was still plowing through California's lengthy appeals process (estimates are he would have been in the system at least another 17 years) when he died of lymphoma in prison in 2013, at age 53.
On March 18, 1925, the deadliest tornado in U.S. history strikes. Touching down near Ellington, MO, the F5 ripped through eastern Missouri and southern Illinois at 70 miles per hour, leaving a mile-wide wake of destruction. By the time it dissipated near West Frankfort in southern Indiana, the "Tri-State Tornado" had traveled more than 200 miles, killed 714 people and caused an estimated $2.25 billion in damages (when adjusted to 2022 dollar values). The photo shows the ruins of Griffith, IN, where 44 people were killed. On March 18, 1969, the U.S. Air Force executes "Operation Breakfast", the first bombardment of targets in Cambodia. Over the next 14 months, USAF B-52's would fly more than 3,500 sorties over Cambodia, dropping more than 110,000 tons of bombs. Approved by President Nixon, the "Menu" operations, as they were internally known, were kept a secret, as Cambodia was officially neutral in the Vietnam War. Despite the secrecy, the New York Times found out and reported the bombings within a month of Operation Breakfast, to little negative reaction from the American public. On March 18, 1911, Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is first published in sheet music. It would have its first public performance in Chicago a month later, by popular vaudevillian Emma Carus. Released when recorded music was in its infancy and radio stations with all-musical formats were nonexistent, "Alexander's" early exposure depended on live performances and sheet music sales. In the latter, it was golden for Berlin, with more than a million copies sold in 1911 and another million in '12. As recorded music became more common, the song's popularity grew. It woud be recorded dozens of times, and no less than 12 versions would become chart hits before 1960, including at least 3 different versions that went to number one. Part rag, part march, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is arguably the greatest American pop song of the 20th century. (clip of Bessie Smith's 1927 recording) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Bessie_Smith_-_Alexander's_Ragtime_Band_1927_-_Sample.ogg
On March 19, 1916, eight Curtiss "Jenny" biplanes of the First Aero Squadron take off from Columbus, New Mexico to give air support to army troops searching for the renegade Poncho Villa in Mexico. It is the first air combat mission in U.S. history. Although the squadron would fly hundreds of sorties over the ensuing months, their contribution added nothing to the search for Villa, who was never caught by the Americans. The missions did, however, give the First Aero Squadron's pilots valuable seat time for when they were sent to Europe the following year. On March 19, 1863, the SS Georgiana is scuttled by her captain after being severely damaged by Union ships blockading Charleston harbor. Iron hulled and powered by both sail and steam engines, the Georgiana was on her maiden voyage and was not yet armed. A great deal of secrecy surrounded her construction; while it is known she had fittings for at least 14 heavy guns and a cargo capacity of 400 tons, no one knows for sure what her precise role in the Confederate Navy was to be, but many historians claim she would have been the South's "most powerful cruiser." On March 19, 1965, 102 years to the day she was lost, a teenage diver discovered her wreckage. The Georgiana actually rests beneath another wreck, the sidewheel steamer Mary Bowers, which struck the Georgiana's wreck while trying to avoid the blockade a year later. On March 19, 1957, rock and roll superstar and actor Elvis Presley makes a $1,000 cash down payment on a 13.8 acre property with a Southern Colonial mansion on the outskirts of Memphis, TN called "Graceland." It is actually the second home Presley, who grew up 115 miles south in Tupelo, MS, purchased in Memphis, and both houses were meant for his parents. But as Presley's fame grew, the first house, on Audubon Avenue in East Memphis, became overrun with sightseers, prompting Elvis to seek a more secluded home. Graceland had room for himself (and later a series of girlfriends and finally his wife Priscilla), his parents and grandmother, and many of the supporters that made up his entourage. About 10,000 square feet at purchase, Elvis added about 7,500 square feet to the mansion over the years. It is virtually identical now to its condition when he died in the master bathroom in 1977, and is exceeded only by the White House as the most visited home in America.
On March 21, 1788, the Good Friday Fire destroys about 80% of New Orleans. The fire started less than a block from the Plaza de Armas (now Jackson Square) and because it was Good Friday, priests would not permit church bells to be rung to warn the population. Of the 1,100 or so structures that make up the city, more than 850 are destroyed. Most of the wooden structures that were lost would be replaced by stone buildings, the conversion to stone including 3 of the most famous buildings in what is now the French Quarter; the Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, and the Presbytere (left to right below). The Good Friday Fire and another major fire in 1794 would virtually erase all French-style architecture from the city. On March 21, 1556, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, is executed by the British government for treason and heresy. As Archbishop, Cranmer had been titular head of the Church of England for more than 30 years. But when Mary I, a Catholic, succeeded Edward VI to the throne, Cranmer, who had supported Edward's cousin Jane Grey, was imprisoned. He recanted his support for the Church of England while in prison, which usually led to a reprieve from Rome. Mary, however, wanted Cranmer executed. Offered one final chance to recant during a sermon on the morning of his execution, he started on the crown's script, but suddenly deviated and declared the pope to be the Antichrist. He was immediately pulled from the pulpit and taken to be burned at the stake. On March 21, 1970 in San Diego, a group of comic book store owners and enthusiasts host the Golden State Comic Mini-Con. Comic artist Sheldon Dorf is the prime mover and shaker behind the one-day event, which is really a "dry run" for the 3-day event he has planned in August, which would be called the Golden State Comic-Con. Renamed San Diego Comic-Con in 1974 and Comic-Con International: San Diego in 1995, it has become one of the largest annual conventions in the world, attracting nearly 170,000 visitors over its 4-day run in 2015 (cancelled in '20 and '21 due to Covid, it is on schedule to run this July).
On March 22, 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, is approved by Congress and sent to the states for approval. Originally proposed in 1923 - not longer after women earned the right to vote in the U.S. - the ERA would not gain political traction until the late 1960's. Within 5 years, 35 of the requisite 38 states had ratified the ERA, but over the next year, 5 of those states would rescind their ratification. Congress and President Jimmy Carter would extend the Constitutional deadline on the issue from 7 to 10 years, but no more states would ratify, and to date, the ERA remains a not ratified amendment. (In Louisiana, the ERA was approved in the House but failed in the Senate) On March 22, 1960, physicists Charles H. Towns and Arthur L. Schawlow are awarded a US patent for their "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation" device - the LASER. A laser differs from other light sources in that it is either spatially coherent - able to be focused on a tight spot at great distances - or temporally coherent - emitting energy in a very tight spectrum. Lasers have since been employed in a virtually unlimited variety of applications (below: a laser welder). On March 22, 1978, 73-year old Karl Wallenda, patriarch of The Flying Wallendas acrobatic team, is killed when he falls 121 feet to the pavement off a high wire in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was attempting to walk a wire stretched between the twin towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel. The German-born Wallenda, his brother and a teenage girl who eventually became his wife, performed across Europe as The Great Wallendas before being brought to America by Ringling Brothers in 1928. Their safety net was lost in transit, but they debuted in Madison Square Garden without a net, which became a family trademark throughout the generations. Karl was the fifth family member killed while performing.
One I missed yesterday.....On March 21, 1966, major league baseball is played on an artificial surface for the first time, as the Houston Astros host an exhibition game (the opponent is not listed) in the 2-year old Astrodome. The world's first domed stadium was built with a natural grass surface and a clear Lucite roof that allowed sunlight through, but it also created a blinding glare. Stadium officials painted the ceiling and turned to the Monsanto Company, which had created a product called ChemGrass two years earlier, renaming it AstroTurf to better market its first major use. With much lower maintenance cost than natural grass, most professional outdoor sports stadiums were installing AstroTurf (or one of several similar surfaces) over the next ten years. Complaints over safety issues for athletes competing on artificial surfaces have led to improvements, but many stadiums (including most newly-built venues) have returned to natural grass. (Astrodome scoreboard message on 3/21/66)
So Karl was several years older than me (how many is not the point) and walking on a wire around 7 stories up. And these days I stumble at times walking to take a piss. I never would have made it as a Wallenda.
On March 23, 1919, WWI vet, newspaper publisher and Italian Socialist Party member Benito Mussolini forms the nationalist Fasci di Combattimento. The name means "Fighting Bands," a salute to the 19th century peasant revolutionaries of Italy; they will be more commonly known as the "Fascists." The movement is based on Italian Nationalism, and opposes the liberals and socialists in the Italian government. Within 3 years, Mussolini will march his black-shirted followers on Rome, asked to form a new government by King Emmanuel III. By 1925, Emmanuel had his new government, a dictatorship with Mussolini, now known as Il Duce (The Leader) as its head. On March 23, 1857, an office building at the corner of Broadway and Broome in NYC becomes the first location with an Otis passenger safety elevator. Elisha Otis was an inventor and mechanic working in an Albany bedstead factory in 1851 when he began working on the problem of moving equipment to the factory's upper levels. The hoisting platforms in the factory were unreliable, and with the help of his sons, Otis developed a device that would use friction to hold the hoist in place if the lifting rope broke. He sold a few independently and bought the factory when it declined, opening Union Elevator Works. An opportunity to demonstrate his friction elevator at the 1853 New York World's Fair set the company toward profitability. The Otis Elevator Co. today is the world leader in elevators, escalators and movable walkways. On March 23, 2011, actress Elizabeth Taylor dies of complications from congestive heart failure at age 79. Taylor made her movie debut at age 10 and gained stardom at age 12 with her performance in National Velvet. A striking beauty with violet eyes, Taylor would appear in more than 50 films, earning 5 Oscar nominations and two statuettes for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Off-screen, she gained notoriety for her 8 marriages, the first to hotel heir Conrad Hilton, and the most famous to actor Richard Burton. Late in life, Taylor became an activist for HIV/AIDS and launched two high-selling perfume lines, "Passion" and "White Diamonds."
