A bus carrying the baseball team of Bluffton University plunges off an overpass onto Interstate 75 near Atlanta, Georgia, killing six including four students. //edition.cnn.com/2007/US/03/02/bus.accident/index.html (CNN)
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
NASA announces that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity) has confirmed that its landing area was once drenched in water.
Saturday, March 2, 2002
2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Army Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman, of the Third Special Forces Group, is killed in an ambush along the road from Gardēz to the Shahi Kot Valley.
The "New York Post" publishes an article about David Rorvik's book "The Cloning of Man", about a supposed cloning of a human being.
"Soyuz 28" (Aleksei Gubarev, Vladimir Remek) is launched on a rendezvous with "Salyut 6", with the first cosmonaut from a third country (besides the Soviet Union and United States) ndash Czechoslovak citizen Vladimír Remek.
Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid of Cuban soldiers against Somalian troops in the Ogaden.
Claudette Colvin (a fifteen year old African American girl) refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards whilst being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station.
Friday, March 2, 1951
The first NBA All-Star game was played in the Boston Garden.
Wednesday, March 2, 1949
The B-50 Superfortress "Lucky Lady II" under Captain James Gallagher lands in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight (it was refueled in flight 4 times).
Friday, March 2, 1945
Former U.S. Vice-President Henry A. Wallace starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serving under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI as the 260th pope.
In Durban, South Africa the Timeless Test begins between England and South Africa, the longest game of cricket ever played. It is abandoned twelve days later when the English team has to catch the last ferry home.
Hitler advises Jozef Tiso to declare Slovakia's independence in order to prevent its partition by Hungary and Poland.
Thursday, March 2, 1933
U.S. President Herbert Hoover is succeeded by Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), who in reference to the Great Depression, proclaims The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself in his inauguration speech. FDR is sworn in by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. It is also the last time Inauguration Day in the United States occurs on March 4.
A powerful earthquake and tsunami hit Honshū, Japan, killing some 3,000.
German election, 1933: National Socialists gain 43.9% of the votes.
The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates authoritarian rule by decree (see Austrofascism).
The original film version of "King Kong", starring Fay Wray, premieres at Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy Theatre in New York City.
Sunday, March 2, 1930
Mahatma Gandhi informs the British viceroy of India that civil disobedience will begin 9 days later.
The inaugural meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
Monday, March 2, 1807
The U.S. Congress passes an act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States ... from any foreign kingdom, place, or country (to take effect 1 January 1808).
In London, a night watchman finds a severed head by the Thames it is later recognized to be that of the husband of Catherine Hayes. She and one accomplice are later executed.
Tuesday, March 2, 1717
Dancer John Weaver performs in the first ballet in Britain shown in Drury Lane, "The Loves of Mars and Venus".
Wednesday, March 2, 1689
Nine Years' War: As French forces leave, they set fire to Heidelberg Castle and the nearby town of Heidelberg.
MarchndashJuly ndash The Song Dynasty sends armies on three fronts against the Liao Dynasty in the Sixteen Prefectures, but are defeated on all fronts.(Chi go Pass Compaign)
The "de facto" ruler of al-Andalus, al-Mansur, continues his effort in the north of the Iberian peninsula, he takes and sacks Coimbra (following this episod the city is said to have remained deserted for six years).
Saturday, February 28, 537 (Julianian calendar)
Vitiges set up seven cs, overlooking the main gates and access routes to the city, in order to starve it out. He blocks the aqueducts that are supplying Rome with water, necessary both for drinking and for operating the corn mills.Bury (1923), Ch. XIX, p. 185
Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army (45,000 men) under king Vitiges begin the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate, he and a detachment of his "bucellarii" are almost cut off.Bury (1923), Ch. XIX, p. 182–183