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LBJ calls for equal voting rights

Born on This Day

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

1933 - 2020

Supreme Court justice, a.k.a. 'The Notorious RBG.' Famous dissenter. Argued cases for women's, LGBTQ and voting rights.

David Cronenberg

1943 -

Film director dubbed the Baron of Blood for his body-obsessed horror films "The Fly" and "Videodrome."

Sly Stone

1943 - 2025

Pioneering funk musician who fronted Sly and the Family Stone on 1970s hits such as "Everyday People" and "Dance to the Music."

Ruth Bader GinsburgTribune News Service via Getty I

David CronenbergGetty Images

Sly StoneGetty Images

1937

MAR15

Dr. Bernard Fantus at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital opens the nation’s first facility for blood donations, coining it a “blood bank.” Fantus was able to preserve blood for a record 10 days.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on March 15th

The Ides of March

Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome, is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate house by 60 conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on March 15. The day later became infamous as the Ides of March. Caesar, born into the Julii, an ancient but not particularly distinguished Roman aristocratic family, began his […]

Andrew Jackson is born

Future President Andrew Jackson is born in a backwoods region between North and South Carolina to Irish immigrant parents on March 15, 1767. Jackson was essentially an orphan—all but one member of his family were killed during the Revolutionary War—who rose from humble beginnings to become a celebrated soldier and one of the nation’s most […]

George Washington puts an end to the Newburgh Conspiracy

On the morning of March 15, 1783, General George Washington makes a surprise appearance at an assembly of army officers at Newburgh, New York, to calm the growing frustration and distrust they had been openly expressing towards Congress in the previous few weeks. Angry with Congress for failing to honor its promise to pay them […]

Maine enters the Union

As part of the Missouri Compromise between the North and the South, Maine is admitted into the Union as the 23rd state. Administered as a province of Massachusetts since 1647, the entrance of Maine as a free state was agreed to by Southern senators in exchange for the entrance of Missouri as a slave state. […]

Cincinnati Red Stockings become first professional baseball team

On March 15, 1869, Cincinnati attorney Aaron Champion hires former cricket player Harry Wright to organize, manage and play for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who become the first professional baseball team. The organization of the club comes shortly after the National Association of Baseball Players, which had previously banned the payment of players, allows open professionalism […]

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Van Gogh paintings shown in first retrospective exhibit

On March 15, 1901, paintings by the late Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh are shown at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris in what was the artist’s first retrospective exhibit. The 71 paintings, which captured their subjects in bold brushstrokes and expressive colors, caused a sensation across the art world. Eleven years before, while living in […]

Czar Nicholas II abdicates Russian throne

During the February Revolution, Czar Nicholas II, ruler of Russia since 1894, is forced to abdicate the throne by the Petrograd insurgents, and a provincial government is installed in his place. Crowned on May 26, 1894, Nicholas was neither trained nor inclined to rule, which did not help the autocracy he sought to preserve in […]

Nazis take Czechoslovakia

Hitler’s forces invade and occupy Czechoslovakia, proving the futility of the Munich Pact, an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Germany’s imperial aims. On September 30, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, which sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany […]

Nationalist Chinese forces invade mainland China

In a surprise raid on the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC), military forces of the Nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan invade the mainland and capture the town of Sungmen. Because the United States supported the attack, it resulted in even deeper tensions and animosities between the U.S. and the PRC. In October 1949, the […]

Construction begins on America’s highest vehicle tunnel

On March 15, 1968, construction starts on the north tunnel of the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel on Interstate 70 in Colorado, some 60 miles west of Denver. Located at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet, the project was an engineering marvel and became the world’s highest vehicular tunnel when it was completed in 1979. Four […]

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Christchurch, New Zealand mosque attacks

On the afternoon of March 15, 2019, a gunman attacked two different mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand during Friday Prayer, killing 51, wounding 40, and deeply scarring a nation that had, until this point, believed itself to be safe from the scourges of gun violence and far-right terrorism. It was one of the darkest and […]

Deb Haaland sworn in as first Indigenous cabinet secretary

Deb Haaland is sworn in as Secretary of the Interior. She is the first Indigenous person to serve as a cabinet secretary in U.S. history. Incoming President Joe Biden announced his nomination of Deb Haaland, first-term congresswoman from New Mexico, to serve as Secretary of the Interior on December 17, 2020. Three months later, the […]

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