Updated March 15, 2012, 2:28 pm
On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre was carried out by United States troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr.
On March 16, 1868, Maxim Gorky, a Russian writer of short stories, novels and plays, was born. Following his death on June 14, 1936, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1521 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month. 1802 Congress authorized the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. 1836 The Republic of Texas approved a constitution. 1850 “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published. 1912 First lady Pat Nixon was born Thelma Catherine Ryan in Ely, Nev. (She was nicknamed Pat because she was born a day before St. Patrick’s Day.) 1926 Rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass. 1935 Adolf Hitler scrapped the Treaty of Versailles. 1968 U.S. troops gunned down hundreds of unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War. 1985 Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted in Beirut. 2003 Vice President Dick Cheney predicted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that American troops would be “greeted as liberators” by the Iraqi people. 2003 Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block Israeli troops from demolishing a Palestinian home in Gaza. 2005 A judge in Redwood City, Calif., sent Scott Peterson to death row for the slaying of his pregnant wife, Laci. 2008 Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces; the Dalai Lama decried what he called the “cultural genocide” taking place in his homeland. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Lauren Graham (“Gilmore Girls,” “Parenthood”) turns 45 years old today.
AP Photo/Peter Kramer
Actor Judah Friedlander (“30 Rock”) turns 43 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1926 Jerry Lewis, Actor, comedian, turns 86 1941 Bernardo Bertolucci, Director, turns 71 1941 Chuck Woolery, Game show host, turns 71 1949 Erik Estrada, Actor (“CHiPS”), turns 63 1949 Victor Garber, Actor (“Alias”), turns 63 1954 Nancy Wilson, Rock singer (Heart), turns 58 1955 Isabelle Huppert, Actress, turns 57 1956 Ozzie Newsome, Football Hall of Famer, turns 56 1959 Flavor Flav, Rapper (Public Enemy), turns 53 1971 Alan Tudyk, Actor (“Firefly”), turns 41 1991 Wolfgang Van Halen, Rock musician (Van Halen), turns 21
Historic Birthdays
Maxim Gorky 3/16/1868 (O.S.) – 6/14/1936 Russian novelist and short-story writer.Go to obituary »
49 Hieronymus Emser 3/16/1478 – 11/8/1527
German theologian, lecturer, editor and essayist82 Giuseppe Crespi 3/16/1665 – 7/16/1747
Italian Baroque painter97 Caroline Herschel 3/16/1750 – 1/9/1848
German-born English astronomer85 James Madison 3/16/1751 – 6/28/1836
4th president of the United States (1809-17)64 Antoine-Jean Gros 3/16/1771 – 6/26/1835
French Romantic painter82 Francis Chesney 3/16/1789 – 1/30/1872
English soldier, explorer and Middle East traveler74 Francois-Emile Matthes 3/16/1874 – 6/21/1948
Dutch-born American geologist and topographer66 Reza Khan Pahlavi 3/16/1878 – 7/26/1944
Iranian Shah (1925-41)92 James Petrillo 3/16/1892 – 10/23/1984
American labor leader78 Alberto Gainza Paz 3/16/1899 – 12/26/1977
Argentine newspaper editor of La Prensa67 Josef Mengele 3/16/1911 – 2/7/1979
German Nazi doctor at Auschwitz extermination camp40 Vladimir Komarov 3/16/1927 – 4/24/1967
Russian cosmonaut
