March 14th in US Political History

On March 14th in United States Political History:

On March 14th in 1644, Roger Williams of Providence, Rhode Island, was issued a charter in the name of the king, which connected the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport under the title of "the Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England." (some historical accounts reference this as having occurred on March 24th)

On March 14th in 1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry. He paid substantial royalties to Catherine T. Greene and this makes his claim to the invention suspect.

On March 14th in 1812 The US Congress authorized war bonds to finance War of 1812.

On March 14th in 1900 Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act for U.S. currency.

On March 14th in 1903 The Senate ratified the Hay-Herran Treaty which guaranteed the U.S. the right to build a canal at Panama. The treaty promised Colombia $10 million plus $250,000 annually for a zone 6 miles wide.

On March 14th in 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan.

On March 14th in 1923 President Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report. 

On March 14th in 1939 Nash Kelvinator and IBM were removed from the DJIA. AT&T was again added to the DJIA along with United Aircraft.

On March 14th in 1945 Sgt. 1st Class Marvin Steinford, a native of Iowa, was part of a 10-man crew of a B-17 bomber which was hit, while returning to its base in Italy from a mission over Hungary. In 2004 his remains were found in a grave in the town on Zirc in western Hungary, where he had been buried with 26 Soviet soldiers. In 2009 his remains were returned to the US.

On March 14th in 1947 The U.S. signed a 99-year lease on naval bases in the Philippines.

On March 14th in 1950 The FBI began its "10 Most Wanted" list after a reporter asked for the names and descriptions of the "toughest guys" the FBI would like to capture.

On March 14th in 1964 A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, the previous November. 

On March 14th in 1967 The body of President Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery. 

On March 14th in 1969 US Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned under pressure for the acceptance of an allegedly illegal payment from a former business associate.

On March 14th in 1972 President Nixon remarked "It’s better to chase girls than boys…" after columnist Jack Anderson reported that Ambassador Arthur Watson had groped flight attendants on a trip home from Paris. A Congressional investigation prompted Watson’s resignation.

On March 14th in 1980 President Carter signed Executive order 12201 imposing credit controls to reduce inflation. Credit usage plunged and GDP fell by an annualized 8%, the steepest quarterly drop in 50 years.

On March 14th in 1987 President Reagan, in his Saturday radio address, said he should have listened to Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Defense Sec. Caspar Weinberger when they advised him not to sell arms to Iran. 

On March 14th in 1988 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir arrived in Washington, D.C., with what he called new ideas for Middle East peace talks, despite maintaining a hard-line on Israel’s retention of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

On March 14th in 1989 In a policy shift, the Bush administration announced an indefinite ban on imports of semiautomatic assault rifles. 

On March 14th in 1990 The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and West and East Germany held their first formal meeting on reunifying the German states. 

On March 14th in 1992 The Associated Press obtained the names of 22 of 24 of the worst offenders in the check overdraft scandal at the House bank; topping the list were former Rep. Tommy Robinson of Arkansas and Rep. Bob Mrazek of New York, both Democrats.

On March 14th in 1994 Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, a longtime friend of President and Mrs. Clinton, resigned because of controversy over billings he'd charged while in private law practice.

On March 14th in 1996 During a visit to Israel, President Clinton pledged $100 million to the fight against terrorism.

On March 14th in 1996 The US approved arms and equipment for Bosnia. It was the same day that the UN embargo on small arms for the region was lifted. In the following weeks M-16 rifles, machine guns, field phone systems, and military radio equipment arrived in Bosnia.

On March 14th in 1997 The Dow Jones Industrial Average was updated with 4 new companies. Bethlehem Steel, Texaco, Westinghouse Electric and Woolworth were taken off the list and replaced by Hewlett-Packard, Wal-Mart Stores, Johnson & Johnson, and the Travelers Group.

On March 14th in 1997 In northeastern Iran a C-130 military cargo plane crashed near Mashad and all 86 people aboard were believed killed.

On March 14th in 1999 The Clinton administration conceded the Chinese had gained from technology allegedly stolen from a federal nuclear weapons lab but insisted the government responded decisively; Republicans demanded a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward China. 

On March 14th in 2000 President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the raw data of human genes "should be made freely available to scientists everywhere."

On March 14th in 2000 Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore clinched their presidential nominations in a sweep of Southern primaries.

On March 14th in 2000 It was reported the Hugh McColl, CEO of Bank of America, received over $50 million in stock and options in 1999 despite low earnings and a plunging stock price.

On March 14th in 2000 In Florida a state judge ruled the 1-year-old school voucher program unconstitutional.

On March 14th in 2000 5 convoys of trucks were reported heading for Washington DC to protest the rising cost of fuel and low freight rates. Diesel fuel cost $1.50 and Gasoline was $1.51 

On March 14th in 2001 The DJIA fell 317 to close at 9,973. The Nasdaq fell 42 to close at 1,972.

On March 14th in 2002 The US Justice Dept. unveiled a criminal indictment against Arthur Anderson LLP on obstruction of justice charges in the Enron case.

On March 14th in 2002 The Bush administration demanded that PM Ariel Sharon order a withdrawal from Palestinian controlled areas.

On March 14th in 2002 VP Cheney traveled to Yemen to press for joint efforts against remnants of al Qaeda.

On March 14th in 2002 A New Jersey federal grand jury indicted Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh for the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

On March 14th in 2003 President Bush promised to reveal a US "road map" to Middle East peace. It was contingent on the confirmation of a Palestinian prime minister with real authority.

On March 14th in 2005 The US government in Operation Community Shield announced the arrests in 7 cities of 103 members of MS-13, Mara Salvatrucha, a street gang rooted in Central America.

On March 14th in 2005 San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

On March 14th in 2006 A Washington DC judge ruled that the slaughter of horses for meat may continue in the US.

On March 14th in 2006 China and Russia objected to a tough UN Security Council statement backed by the United States, Britain and France calling for a report in two weeks on Iran's compliance with demands that it suspend uranium enrichment.

On March 14th in 2007 President Bush, speaking from Mexico, said he was troubled by the Justice Department's misleading explanations to Congress of why it fired eight US attorneys, but said the firings were "entirely appropriate."

On March 14th in 2007 The Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z."

On March 14th in 2007 A US judge in Virginia ruled that Sudan should pay damages to the families of 17 sailors killed in the October 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.

On March 14th in 2007 New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed legislation authorizing “civil confinement” of certain sex offenders who have finished their prison terms, but were still considered a threat.

On March 14th in 2007 Bank of America agreed to pay $26 million to settle SEC allegations that from 1999 to 2001 its securities unit made improper trades using advanced knowledge of the firm’s stock research.

On March 14th in 2007 The chief UN nuclear inspector returned from a one-day trip to Pyongyang saying that North Korea was "fully committed" to an agreement that requires it to shutter its main nuclear reactor and let in inspectors as soon as the U.S. drops financial sanctions.

On March 14th in 2008 The near-collapse of US investment giant Bear Stearns and its Federal Reserve bailout heightened fears that the worst is not over for the spreading global credit crunch. The Federal Reserve and JP Morgan Chase & Co. offered to extend loans for 28 days. The US dollar hit a record low against the euro, closing at 1.567 per euro.

On March 14th in 2008 In Mississippi Richard Scruggs, chief architect of the $206 billion tobacco settlement in 1998, pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge with $50,000 in a dispute over legal fees.

On March 14th in 2008 The Bush administration's Mideast envoy pushed Israel and the Palestinians to speed up peace negotiations at the first meeting the US has attended since talks resumed nearly four months ago.

On March 14th in 2009 President Obama said the nation's decades-old food safety system is a "hazard to public health" and in need of an overhaul. Obama used his weekly internet address to announce the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner, and his choice of Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy.

On March 14th in 2009 The US Government permanently banned the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own (known as Down Cows), seeking to further minimize the chance that mad cow disease could enter the food supply.

On March 14th in 2010 In Pakistan helicopter gunships pounded Taliban hideouts in the northwestern tribal district, killing at least 17 insurgents.