March 31
1492
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain expelled Jews who would not accept Christianity.
1889
The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opened.
1917
The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands.
1918
Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the United States.
1949
Newfoundland became Canada’s tenth province.
1959
The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border and was granted political asylum.
1968
President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for re-election.
1995
Major League Baseball players agreed to end the sport’s longest strike in history after a judge ordered a preliminary injunction against team owners.
2005
Terry Schiavo died 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.
Birthdays
René Descartes
scientist, philosopher (1596)
Franz Haydn
composer (1732)
Nikolai Gogol
short-story writer, novelist (1809)
Robert Wilhelm Bunsen
scientist (1811)
Jack Johnson
boxer (1878)
Octavio Paz
poet and critic (1914)
Cesar Chavez
American agrarian labor leader (1923)
Albert Gore, Jr.
former vice president (1948)