March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years). There are 303 days remaining.

Events

• 1431 - Eugenius IV becomes Pope.
• 1791 - The United States Mint is created by the U.S. Congress.
• 1820 - The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
• 1845 - Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
• 1845 - For the first time the U.S. Congress passes legislation overriding a presidential veto.
• 1849 - Minnesota Territory organized as a political division of the United States.
• 1849 - The United States Department of the Interior is established.
• 1849 - The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of gold coins.
• 1857 - France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
• 1863 - Idaho Territory organized as a political division of the United States.
• 1865 - The U.S. Congress authorizes formation of the Freedmen's Bureau.
• 1873 - Censorship: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.
• 1877 - Rutherford B. Hayes is privately inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States (he was publicly inaugurated on March 5).
• 1878 - Bulgaria regains its independence from Ottoman Empire.
• 1879 - The United States Geological Survey is created.
• 1885 - A subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), is incorporated in New York.
• 1904 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
• 1905 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly (the Duma).
• 1910 - Rockefeller Foundation: J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he could devote full time to being a philanthropist.
• 1915 - NACA, the predecessor of NASA founded.
• 1918 - Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and led to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
• 1931 - The United States adopts "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem.
• 1933 - Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated.
• 1938 - Glenn Cunningham breaks the world record for the indoor mile run by completing the distance in 4 minutes, 4.4 seconds.
• 1939 - In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
• 1943 - 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station in London.
• 1945 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.
• 1945 - World War II: Hundreds of people die in The Hague after the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombs a civilian area in the city
• 1949 - The Tucker automobile Corporation folds.
• 1953 - A Canadian Pacific Comet Jet crashes in Karachi, Pakistan killing 11
• 1955 - Elvis Presley appears on television for the first time.
• 1957 - In Frankfurt. Germany, Corry Brokken wins the second Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Net als toen" (Like it used to be).
• 1958 - Nuri as-Said became the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
• 1959 - The San Francisco Giants officially name their new stadium Candlestick Park.
• 1961 - Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
• 1969 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
• 1969 - In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
• 1971 - Beginning of Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and India's official entry to the Bangladesh Liberation War in support of Mukti Bahini
• 1972 - The space probe Pioneer X is launched by NASA.
• 1974 - A Turkish DC-10 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris killing all 346 aboard.
• 1974 - Roman Catholic and Lutheran officials reached an agreement for eventual reconciliation into one communiion, marking the first agreement between the two churches since the Reformation.
• 1976 - Fleetwood Mac records Rumours, which will be a blockbuster album in 1977.
• 1978 - Charles Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland but are recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.
• 1985 - Censorship: Women Against Pornography award their "Pig Award" to Huggies Diapers for claiming that their television ads had "crossed the line between eye-catching and porn."
• 1991 - An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
• 1995 - In Somalia, the United Nations peacekeeping mission ends.
• 1999 - LaGrand case: The State of Arizona executes Walter LaGrand, a German despite German legal action in the International Court of Justice.
• 1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their successful attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping.
• 2001 - A U.S. Air Force Materials Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in central Georgia killing 21.
• 2002 - Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favour of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.

Births

• 1455 - King John II of Portugal, (d. 1495)
• 1606 - Edmund Waller, English poet (d. 1687)
• 1792 - Jean-Jacques Willmar, luxembourgish politician (d. 1866)
• 1805 - Jonas Furrer, Swiss politician and first President of the Swiss Confederation, (d. 1861)
• 1831 - George Pullman, inventor, industrialist, (d. 1897)
• 1845 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician, (d. 1918)
• 1847 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor, (d. 1922)
• 1873 - William Green, labor union leader, President of the American Federation of Labor, (d. 1952)
• 1892 - Fred A. Busse, mayor of Chicago, IL (d. 1914)
• 1893 - Beatrice Wood, artist, ceramicist, (d. 1998)
• 1895 - Matthew Ridgway, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, United States Army Chief of Staff, (d. 1993)
• 1911 - Jean Harlow, actress, (d. 1937)
• 1918 - Fritz Thiedemann, equestrian, (d. 2000)
• 1920 - Ronald Searle, illustrator
• 1920 - James Doohan, actor
• 1926 - James Merrill, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, (d. 1995)
• 1926 - Lys Assia, singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1928 - France Križanič, Slovene mathematician, (d. 2002)
• 1930 - Heiner Geißler, German politician
• 1941 - Jutta Hoffmann, actress
• 1946 - John Virgo, English snooker player
• 1949 - Jüri Allik, Estonian psychologist
• 1949 - Gloria Hendry, actress
• 1953 - Robyn Hitchcock, musician
• 1958 - Miranda Richardson, actress
• 1959 - Ira Glass, radio host
• 1962 - Jackie Joyner-Kersey, athlete
• 1962 - Herschel Walker, American football player
• 1966 - Tone-Loc, musician
• 1974 - David Faustino, actor
• 1977 - Ronan Keating, Irish singer

Deaths

• 1111 - Bohemund I, prince of Antioch
• 1703 - Robert Hooke, scientist, (b. 1635)
• 1706 - Johann Pachelbel, composer, (b. 1653)
• 1707 - Aurangzeb, Mughal emperor (b. 1618)
• 1792 - Robert Adam, architect, (b. 1728)
• 1937 - Amelia Earhart, aviatrix, apparently disappeared over the Pacific Ocean
• 1959 - Lou Costello, actor, comedian, (b. 1906)
• 1961 - Paul Wittgenstein, pianist, (b. 1887)
• 1965 - King Farouk of Egypt, (b. 1920)
• 1966 - Maxfield Parrish, artist, (b. 1870)
• 1982 - Georges Perec, novelist and essayist (b. 1936)
• 1983 - Hergé, Belgian comics creator, (b. 1907)
• 1987 - Danny Kaye, actor, singer, comedian, (b. 1913)
• 1988 - Sewall Wright, biologist, (b. 1889)
• 1991 - Arthur Murray, dancer, dance instructor, (b. 1895)
• 1994 - Howard W. Hunter, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1907)
• 1999 - Walter LaGrand, German national, executed by the State of Arizona
• 2003 - Horst Buchholz, German actor, (b. 1933)
• 2003 - Peter Smithson, architect, (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• Hinamatsuri - Japanese celebration day for girls.

March 2 - March 4 - February 3 - April 3 -- listing of all days