March 18, 2018

950 years ago
1068

Disasters
An earthquake struck the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, leaving up to 20,000 dead.

580 years ago
1438

Europeana
Albert the Magnanimous, King of Hungary and Croatia, was chosen "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt, becoming King Albert II of Germany.

410 years ago
1608

Africana
Susenyos I was formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.

225 years ago
1793

War
An Austrian-Dutch coalition army repulsed a Republican French attack in the Battle of Neerwinden in the Austrian Netherlands.

Germanica
The Republic of Mainz, the first republican state in Germany, was declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.

170 years ago
1848

World events
A clash between citizens and military in Berlin cost about 300 lives.

160 years ago
1858

Politics and government
Jan Jacob Rochussen, a Conservative, took office as Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

125 years ago
1893

Born on this date
Wilfred Owen. Lieutenant Owen is regarded as the greatest of the World War I poets; his works describing the horrors of the Great War included Dulce et Decorum Est. Lt. Owen was awarded the Military Cross for courage and leadership for his actions near the French village of Joncourt on October 1, 1918, and was killed in action at the age of 25 on November 4, 1918 during the crossing of the Sambre–Oise Canal, just a week before the end of hostilities.

100 years ago
1918

Born on this date
Sam Donahue. U.S. musician. Mr. Donahue was a jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, occasional trombonist, and arranger who led his own band and also performed with the bands of Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Billy May, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton. During World War II, Mr. Donahue took over the U.S. Navy Band that had been led by Artie Shaw. Mr. Donahue died from pancreatic cancer on March 22, 1974, four days after his 56th birthday.

Politics and government
In the first Liechtensteinian general election to include political parties, the Progressive Citizens' Party won 7 of the 15 seats in the Landtag. The Christian-Social People's Party won 5 seats, and the remaining 3 members were appointed by Prince Hans-Adam II.

Economics and finance
The Canadian Parliament passed a law bringing in Daylight Saving Time as a way to boost wartime production, matching similar legislation in Britain.

80 years ago
1938

Oil
Mexico nationalized all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders, creating Pemex.

Baseball
The Washington Nationals traded first baseman Joe Kuhel to the Chicago White Sox for first baseman Zeke Bonura. Mr. Kuhel, who spent 8 seasons in Washington, hit .283 with 6 home runs and 61 runs batted in in 1937, while Mr. Bonura, in his fourth season with the White Sox, had batted .345 with 19 home runs and 100 RBIs in 116 games in 1937. Mr. Kuhel was regarded as a much better defensive first baseman than Mr. Bonura.

75 years ago
1943

War
Soviet troops repulsed German counterattacks at Chuguyev, southeast of Kharkov, with heavy losses. Allied bombers raided 14 Japanese bases along a 2,200-mile front from Amboina to New Ireland and the Solomon Islands. U.K. troops in Burma east of the Mayu River fell back north of Rathedaung in the face of Japanese attacks. U.S. patrols occupied El Guettar, Tunisia without opposition.

Law
U.S. Federal Judge John Bright deprived Fritz Kuhn and 10 other members of the German-American Bund of their American citizenship.

Religion
John Foster Dulles, chairman of a commission established by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, outlined in New York a statement of "political principles" based on six "pillars of peace."

Society
The U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples gave its Spingarn Award to former federal judge and Howard University law school dean William H. Hastie, both for lifetime achievement and for his January 15, 1943 resignation from his position as a civilian aide to U.S. War Secretary Henry Stimson because of the Army Air Force's "reactionary policies against Negroes."

Economics and finance
The U.S. Import-Export Bank granted $20 million in credits for the development of the Volta Redona steel mill and $14 million for the development of the Itabira iron mines in Brazil.

70 years ago
1948

Diplomacy
Prime Ministers Einar Gerhardsen of Norway, Hans Hedtoft of Denmark, and Tage Erlander of Sweden conferred in Stockholm on Scandinavian cooperation with Western Europe, and warned against Communist bids for power in their countries.

Defense
Bulgaria and the U.S.S.R. signed a 20-year mutual defense and friendship treaty in Moscow.

Politics and government
U.S.S.R. authorities sponsored the creation of a German People's Congress in Berlin, intended as "the first step towards a constitutional assembly for Germany."

Florida Governor Millard Caldwell (Democrat) and three-fourths of Alabama's Electoral College candidates announced that they would not support the re-election of U.S. President Harry Truman.

A U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. upheld the contempt of Congress convictions of Edward Barsky and 15 other members of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee for refusing to give organization records to the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities.

Labour
The American Federation of Musicians reached a three-year agreement in New York with the four major networks, allowing live broadcasting of music on television.

60 years ago
1958

War
Rebel Padang radio in Indonesia claimed the recapture of Pakanbaru from government forces.

World events
A French court in Philippeville convicted and sentenced to death 36 Algerian nationalists (21 in absentia) for the 1955 massacre of 20 Europeans in the Philippeville region of Algeria.

Politics and government
The French National Assembly approved Prime Minister Felix Gaillard's proposals for constitutional reform to strengthen the executive against the legislative branch.

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Division Semi-Finals
Philadelphia 101 @ Syracuse 88 (Philadelphia won best-of-three series 2-1)

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Koi no Shizuku--Yukari Itō (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Soul Finger--The Bar-Kays

Economics and finance
The U.S. Congress repealed the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.

Disasters
27 people were killed when a bus left a road near Rampur, India.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Gianna--Rino Gaetano (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: Wuthering Heights--Kate Bush

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Wuthering Heights--Kate Bush (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Night Fever--Bee Gees

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Denis--Blondie
2 Big City--Tol Hansse
3 She's Not There--Santana
4 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees
5 If I Had Words--Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley with the St. Thomas More School Choir
6 I Can't Stand the Rain--Eruption featuring Precious Wilson
7 Red Hot--Robert Gordon with Link Wray
8 Only a Fool--The Mighty Sparrow with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires
9 Fantasy--Earth, Wind & Fire
10 Wuthering Heights--Kate Bush

Singles entering the chart were Argentina by Conquistador (#21); Jack and Jill by Raydio (#27); Spaceman by Bolland & Bolland (#29); Same Old Song by Pussycat (#33); and Winter Song by Angel with the California Boys Choir (#34).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Night Fever--Bee Gees
2 Emotion--Samantha Sang
3 (Love Is) Thicker than Water--Andy Gibb
4 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees
5 Lay Down Sally--Eric Clapton
6 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
7 Can't Smile Without You--Barry Manilow
8 I Go Crazy--Paul Davis
9 What's Your Name--Lynyrd Skynyrd
10 Thunder Island--Jay Ferguson

Singles entering the chart were Two Doors Down by Dolly Parton (#75); On Broadway by George Benson (#80); Don't Cost You Nothing by Ashford & Simpson (#82); Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) by Billy Joel (#83); Too Much, Too Little, Too Late by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams (#84); Dance with Me by Peter Brown with Betty Wright (#90); Kings and Queens by Aerosmith (#91); (Any Way that You Want It) I'll Be There by Starz (#96); Am I Losing You by the Manhattans (#97); Never Get Enough of Your Love by L.T.D. (#98); and Do I Love You (Yes in Every Way) by Donna Fargo (#99).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
2 (Love Is) Thicker than Water--Andy Gibb
3 Emotion--Samantha Sang
4 Just the Way You Are--Billy Joel
5 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees
6 What's Your Name--Styx
7 Peg--Steely Dan
8 I Go Crazy--Paul Davis
9 Night Fever--Bee Gees
10 Lay Down Sally--Eric Clapton

Singles entering the chart were Count on Me by Jefferson Starship (#83); Rocket Ride by Kiss (#85); Like I've Never Been Gone by Fran McKendree (#93); Let's All Chant by the Michael Zager Band (#98); Your Love is So Good for Me by Diana Ross (#99); and It Amazes Me by John Denver (#100).

Died on this date
Peggy Wood, 86. U.S. actress. Miss Wood, born Mary Margaret Wood, had a long career on stage, screen, and television, and was best known for starring as the title character in the television series Mama (1949-1957) and for her roles in the movies The Story of Ruth (1960) and The Sound of Music (1965).

Leigh Brackett, 62. U.S. authoress and screenwriter. Miss Brackett was primarily a writer of science fiction stories and novels, but also wrote or co-wrote the screenplays to movies such as The Big Sleep (1946); Rio Bravo (1959); El Dorado (1967); and The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

World events
In Pakistan, former President and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death for conspiracy to murder a political opponent, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, three years earlier. In 1974, Mr. Kasuri's family had been ambushed, and Mr. Kasuri's father, Nawab Mohammad Ahmad Khan, had been killed. The younger Kasuri insisted that he had been the real target. The trial and verdict were heavily criticized amid accusations of bias and manufactured evidence.

Hockey
NHL
Pittsburgh 3 @ Toronto 2

Former Boston Bruins' centre Derek Sanderson, trying a comeback with Pittsburgh, scored the game's first goal to help the Penguins edge the Maple Leafs at Mape Leaf Gardens in the national Hockey Night in Canada telecast.

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Tell it to My Heart--Taylor Dayne (3rd week at #1)

At the movies
The Milagro Beanfield War, directed by Robert Redford and starring Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, and many others, opened in theatres in three cities in the United States.

Died on this date
Billy Butterfield, 71. U.S. musician. Mr. Butterfield was a jazz trumpeter who performed with a number of big bands, including those of Bob Crosby, Artie Shaw, Les Brown, and Benny Goodman.

Economics and finance
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 2087.37, the highest level since the collapse of stock prices on October 19, 1987.

Hockey
NHL
New York Islanders 5 Washington 3

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): What is Love--Haddaway

Died on this date
Kenneth Boulding, 83. U.K.-born U.S. economist. Mr. Boulding was a co-founder of General Systems Theory and coined the term "psychic capital," referring to the accumulation of desired mental states. He was a quaker and pacifist, fond of saying "Any peace is better than any war." Journalist Andy Rooney was one of Mr. Boulding's students at Colgate University in the early 1940s, and wrote about him in his book Sincerely, Andy Rooney (1999), pp. 97-99.

Bob Rushworth, 68. U.S. military aviator. Major General Rushworth was a United States Air Force pilot who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and was part of the Man in Space Soonest program, which was cancelled in 1958 and replaced by Project Mercury. Maj. Gen. Rushworth was a test pilot for the X-15 rocket plane program, making 34 flights in the X-15 from 1960-1966. He reached an altitude of 285,000 feet in the X-15 in 1963, qualifying him for astronaut wings.

Crime
Canadian Armed Forces Master Corporal Clayton Matchee was arrested by military police in connection with the death of a Somali youth who had entered the Canadian Forces compound without permission. Cpl. Matchee later suffered brain damage when he attempted to hang himself in his cell, and was ruled unfit to stand trial.

Economics and finance
The Polish parliament voted 203-181 to defeat a government bill to convert 600 state-owned companies into private enterprises.

The United States House of Representatives voted 243-183 in favour of President Bill Clinton's measure to cut spending and raise taxes.

20 years ago
1998

Religion
Regional bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to maintain a ban on sodomite clergy. They voted against replacing existing law with a broader one that would be open to individual interpretation.

10 years ago
2008

Died on this date
Anthony Minghella, 54. U.K. film director. Mr. Minghella won the Academy Award for directing the boring and overrated The English Patient (1996), which was also named Best Picture. He was nominated for Oscars for that film and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and for Best Picture as co-producer of The Reader (2008). Mr. Minghella died of a hemorrhage a week after an operation to remove cancer from his neck and tonsils.

Diplomacy
Canada recognized the independence of Kosovo, a former Yugoslavian republic.