March 22

March 22 is the 81stst day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (82nd in Leap years). There are 284 days remaining.

Events

238 - Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors.

1621 - The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.

1622 - Jamestown massacre: Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population.

1630 - Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.

1638 - Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.

1765 - The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act, the first direct tax levied from England on the American colonies.

1809 - Charles XIII succeeds Gustav IV Adolf to the Swedish throne.

1871 - In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.

1888 - The Football League is formed.

1894 - The first playoff game for the Stanley Cup starts.

1895 - First display (a private screening) of motion pictures by Auguste and Louis Lumière.

1933 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law a bill legalizing the sale of beer and wine.

1939 - World War II: Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.

1941 - Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.

1942 - World War II: In the Mediterranean sea, Regia Marina defeats Royal Navy in the Second Battle of Sirte.

1945 - The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.

1954 - Closed since 1939, the London gold market reopens.

1958 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia.

1960 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Townes receive the first patent for a laser.

1965 - Bob Dylan "goes electric," releasing his first album featuring electric instruments, Bringing It All Back Home.

1975 - A fire at the Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor in Decatur, Alabama causes dangerous lowering of cooling water levels.

1975 - In Stockholm, Sweden, Teach-In wins the twentieth Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Ding-a-dong."

1978 - Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1984 - Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.

1989 - Fawn Hall, Oliver North's former secretary, begins two days of testimony at North's Iran-Contra trial in Washington.

1993 - The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.

1995 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space.

1997 - Tara Lipinski, age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.

2005 - Pat Summitt, coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols (women's college basketball), becomes the all-time leader in victories for both men's and women's college basketball, getting her 880th win as coach of the team.