March 22 is the 81st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (82nd in Leap years). There are 284 days remaining.

Events

up to 19th century

• 238 - Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors
• 1621 - The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
• 1622 - Jamestown massacre: Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia (1/3 of the colony's population)
• 1638 - Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.
• 1765 - The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act which is the first direct tax levied from England on the American colonies.
• 1809 - Charles XIII succeeds Gustav IV Adolf to the Swedish throne.
• 1871 - In North Carolina, William Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.
• 1888 - The Football League is formed
• 1894 - The first playoff game for the Stanley Cup starts.
• 1895 - First display of motion pictures by Auguste and Louis Lumière (private screening).

20th century

• 1939 - World War II: Germany takes Memel from Lithuania
• 1941 - Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.
• 1945 - The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1954 - The London gold market reopens (it was closed in 1939).
• 1958 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia
• 1960 - A.L. Schawlow & C.H. Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• 1965 - Bob Dylan "goes electric," releasing his first album featuring electric instruments, Bringing It All Back Home.
• 1975 - A fire at the Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor in Decatur, Alabama caused dangerous lowering of cooling water levels.
• 1975 - In Stockholm, Sweden, Teach-In wins the twentieth Netherlands singing "Ding-a-dong".
• 1978 - Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• 1984 - Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges were later dropped as completely unfounded.
• 1993 - The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586) 64 bits-60 MHz-100+ MIPS.
• 1995 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space.
• 1997 - 14 year, 10 month old Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.

Births

up to 19th century

• 1459 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1599 - Anthony van Dyck, painter (d. 1641)
• 1797 - Wilhelm I, King of Prussia and German Emperor (d. 1888)
• 1812 - Stephen Pearl Andrews, Anarchist, Abolitionist (d. 1886)
• 1817 - Braxton Bragg, Confederate general (d. 1876)
• 1861 - Walter Francis Willcox, statistician and Census Bureau head (d. 1964)
• 1878 - Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919)
• 1887 - Chico Marx, comedian, actor (d. 1961)

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1908 - Louis L'Amour, author (d. 1988)
• 1909 - Gabrielle Roy, author (d. 1983)
• 1912 - Karl Malden, actor
• 1920 - Werner Klemperer, actor (d. 2000)
• 1923 - Marcel Marceau, mime
• 1928 - Ed Macauley Basketball Hall of Fame
• 1930 - Pat Robertson, televangelist
• 1930 - Stephen Sondheim, composer and lyricist
• 1931 - William Shatner, actor
• 1933 - May Britt, Swedish actress
• 1934 - Orrin Hatch, politician (Senator from Utah)
• 1935 - M. Emmet Walsh, actor
• 1937 - Armin Hary, German athlete
• 1940 - Haing S. Ngor, actor (d. 1996)
• 1941 - Bruno Ganz, actor
• 1943 - George Benson, jazz musician
• 1945 - Paul Schockemöhle, equestrian
• 1946 - André Heller, artist
• 1946 - Rudy Rucker, science fiction author
• 1948 - Wolf Blitzer, television journalist
• 1948 - Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer
• 1949 - Fanny Ardant, actress

1950s-1970s

• 1952 - Bob Costas, sports commentator, broadcaster, talk show host
• 1955 - Pete Sessions, U.S. politician
• 1956 - Lena Olin, actress
• 1959 - Matthew Modine, actor (Full Metal Jacket, Memphis Belle, Any Given Sunday)
• 1966 - Artis Pabriks, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1967 - Mario Cipollini, cyclist
• 1972 - Shawn Bradley, basketball player
• 1972 - Elvis Stojko, figure skater
• 1974 - Marcus Camby, NBA basketball player
• 1976 - Reese Witherspoon, actress

Beyond

• 2233 - James T. Kirk, Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise (in Star Trek)

Deaths

• 1471 - Pope Paul II, (b. 1418)
• 1687 - Jean Baptiste Lully, French composer, (b. 1632)
• 1820 - Stephen Decatur, sailor, (b. 1779)
• 1832 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writer and poet, (b. 1749)
• 1842 - Stendhal, author
• 1896 - Thomas Hughes, novelist (b. 1822)
• 1913 - Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of KMT, (b. 1882)
• 1945 - John Hessin Clarke, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1857)
• 1952 - Uncle Dave Macon, country music performer
• 1958 - Michael Todd, Academy Award winning film producer
• 1978 - Karl Wallenda, acrobat (The Flying Wallendas)
• 1981 - James "Jumbo" Elliott, hall of fame track coach (b. 1915)
• 1994 - Walter Lantz, cartoonist (Woody Woodpecker)
• 1999 - David Strickland, American actor, (b. 1969)
• 2001 - William Hanna, animator, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio
• 2003 - Terry Lloyd, reporter
• 2004 - Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and spiritual leader of Hamas (b. 1937)

Holidays and observances

• The fourth day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• Easter Sunday - 1818, 2285. In the Gregorian Calendar 22nd March is the earliest date on which Easter Sunday can fall (25th April is the latest).

March 21 - March 23 - February 24 - April 24 -- listing of all days