Updated March 17, 2012, 2:28 pm
On March 18, 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod 2 capsule and remained outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes, secured by a tether.
On March 18, 1837, Grover Cleveland, the only U.S. president who served two non-consecutive terms, was born. Following his death on June 24, 1908, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1766 Britain repealed the Stamp Act. 1922 Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced to prison in India for civil disobedience. 1931 Schick Inc. marketed the first electric razor. 1940 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini held a meeting at the Brenner Pass during which the Italian dictator agreed to join in Germany’s war against France and Britain. 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which was put in charge of interning Japanese-Americans. 1962 France and Algerian rebels agreed to a truce after more than seven years of war. 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov went on the first spacewalk. 1974 Most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States. 2000 Taiwan ended more than a half century of Nationalist Party rule by electing opposition leader Chen Shui-bian president. 2005 Doctors in Florida, acting on orders of a state judge, removed Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube. (The brain-damaged woman died 13 days later.) 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama confronted America’s racial divide with a speech in Philadelphia. It was prompted by incindiary racial remarks made by Obama’s African-American pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. 2010 President Barack Obama signed into law a $38 billion jobs bill containing a modest mix of tax breaks and spending designed to encourage the private sector to start hiring again. 2011 President Barack Obama demanded that Moammar Gadhafi halt all military attacks on civilians and said that if the Libyan leader did not stand down, the United States would join other nations in launching military action against him. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Rapper-actress Queen Latifah turns 42 years old today.
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Rock singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5) turns 33 years old today.
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
1927 John Kander, Composer (“Chicago”), turns 85 1936 F.W. de Klerk, Former South African president, turns 76 1938 Charley Pride, Country singer, turns 74 1943 Kevin Dobson, Actor (“Knot’s Landing”), turns 69 1950 Brad Dourif, Actor (“Deadwood”), turns 62 1959 Irene Cara, Singer, turns 53 1962 James McMurtry, Rock singer, songwriter, turns 50 1963 Vanessa L. Williams, Singer, actress, turns 49 1964 Bonnie Blair, Olympic gold medal speed skater, turns 48 1972 Dane Cook, Actor, comedian, turns 40
Historic Birthdays
Grover Cleveland 3/18/1837 – 6/24/1908 22nd and 24th president of the United States.Go to obituary »
77 Friedrich Nicolai 3/18/1733 – 1/8/1811
German writer; a leader of the German Enlightenment68 John C. Calhoun 3/18/1782 – 3/31/1850
American statesman74 Francis Lieber 3/18/1798 – 10/2/1872
German-born American political philosopher and jurist73 Antonio Salviati 3/18/1816 – 1/25/1890
Italian glass manufacturer90 Nathanael Herreshoff 3/18/1848 – 6/2/1938
American naval architect and yacht designer55 Rudolf Diesel 3/18/1858 – 9/29/1913
German thermal engineer; invented the internal-combustion engine78 William Sulzer 3/18/1863 – 11/6/1941
New York governor (1913); impeached and removed from office71 Neville Chamberlain 3/18/1869 – 11/9/1940
English prime minister77 Chiang Ching-kuo 3/18/1910 – 1/13/1988
Chinese son of Chiang Kai-shek and his successor as leader of China
