March 14th

Xi Jinping is named as the new President of the People's Republic of China.

Protests led by Buddhist monks in Tibet turned violent, leading to an extensive crackdown by China's military.

About 1 million people rallied in Beirut, Lebanon, demanding Syrian withdrawal and the arrest of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's killers.

Opposition Socialists scored a dramatic upset win in Spain's general election, unseating conservatives stung by charges they'd provoked the Madrid terror bombings by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The Birmingham Six are released. The 6 men had been wrongly sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 for the IRA Birmingham pub bombings.

The Soviet Congress voted Mikhail Gorbachev into the newly-created and powerful position of president.

Factory Plane Crash in China. At least 200 people are killed when a plane crashes into a factory in China. According to some sources, the plane had previously been stolen by the pilot who was not qualified to fly it.

President John F. Kennedy's body was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery.

A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

The leaders of Germany and Israel confer for the first time. 15 years after the end of World War II, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion met at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

Perry Como's single 'Catch a Falling Star' became the first RIAA gold record.

United Nations forces recaptured Seoul during the Korean War.

The FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list made its debut.

World War II: Kraków Ghetto is "liquidated".

For the first time in history, a dying patient's life is saved by penicillin. Although some claim that the pioneering trials at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, England resulted in the first cures using penicillin, Orvan Hess and John Bumstead are generally credited with the first documented successful treatment.

The Republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation.

The Lakeview Gusher causes the largest accidental oil spill in history. The spill lasted 18 months and 9 million barrels of crude oil were released.

US currency goes on gold standard after Congress passes the Currency Act.

Political philosopher Karl Marx died at age 64.

Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin machine revolutionizing the cotton industry in the southern US states.

The first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Battle of Ivry: French King Henry IV beats Catholic League during French Wars of Religion.