March 23rd

The U.S. Army formally charged Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of 17 villagers, more than half of them children, during a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor died at age 79.

President Barack Obama signed a health-care overhaul bill, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into law.

A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.

A U.S. Army convoy was ambushed in Iraq with 11 killed and seven captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch.

Russia's orbiting Mir space station ended its 15-year odyssey with a fiery plunge into the South Pacific.

'Titanic' won 11 Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best song, to tie the record set by 1959's 'Ben-Hur.' (The record was tied again by 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King' in 2003.).

Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings broke Gordie Howe's National Hockey League career record with his 802nd goal.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed a space-based missile defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative or “Star Wars.”.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions.

Archbishop Óscar Romero calls on members of the El Salvador armed forces to stop killing their fellow Salvadorians. A death squad assassinated the archbishop only one day after his famous sermon.

Pakistan becomes the world's first Islamic republic. The Dominion of Pakistan also included the area of modern-day Bangladesh or East Pakistan, which seceded in 1971.

Largest operation in WWII's Pacific War, 1,500 US Navy ships bomb the Japanese island of Okinawa.

The first Japanese-Americans evacuated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp in Manzanar, Calif.

The German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.

8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party re-establishes a five-member Politburo which becomes the center of political power in the Soviet Union. Original members Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Krestinsky.

The Football League meets for the first time. The league featuring teams from England and Wales was the world's oldest Association Football league. In 1992, its top 22 teams formed the Premier League.

The first Easter egg roll was held on the White House lawn.

Lewis and Clark began their return journey east.

Patrick Henry called for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!".

George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" had its premiere, in London.

1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishneh Torah", a code of Jewish religious law is published.