March 15th in US Political History

On March 15th in United States Political History:

On March 15th in 1781 Gen. Nathanael Greene engaged British forces under Cornwallis at Guilford Court-House, North Carolina. Greene retreated after inflicting severe casualties on Cornwallis’ army.

On March 15th in 1820 Maine, a province of Massachusetts since 1647, became the 23rd state. Maine entered the Union as a free state and helped maintain the balance in the US Senate, that would have been disrupted by the entrance of Missouri Territory into the Union as a slave state.

On March 15th in 1855 Louisiana established the 1st health board to regulate quarantine.

On March 15th in 1865 Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. In 2002 Ronald C. White Jr. authored “Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural.”

On March 15th in 1892 New York State unveiled the new automatic ballot voting machine. 

On March 15th in 1913 President Wilson met with reporters for what's been described as the first Presidential Press conference. Some sources say Wilson's first actual press conference was a week later.

On March 15th in 1944 Allied bombers again raided German-held Monte Cassino, Italy.

On March 15th in 1955 The U.S. Air Force unveiled a self-guided missile. 

On March 15th in 1964 LBJ asked for a War on Poverty and for Congress to ensure everybody's right to vote. 

On March 15th in 1965 Addressing a joint session of Congress, President Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote. His speech was written by Richard Goodwin. In 2007 Garth E. Pauley authored “LBJ’s American Promise: the 1965 Voting Rights Address.”

On March 15th in 1968 The U.S. mint halted the practice of buying and selling gold. 

On March 15th in 1977 The U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on television. 

On March 15th in 1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met at the White House with President Clinton, after which Rabin offered to negotiate the return of part of the Golan Heights to Syria.

On March 15th in 1995 President Clinton issued an executive order formally blocking a $1 billion contract between Conoco and Iran to develop a huge offshore oil tract in the Persian Gulf. 

On March 15th in 1998 CBS' "60 Minutes" aired an interview with former White House employee Kathleen Willey, who said President Clinton had made unwelcome sexual advances toward her in the Oval Office in 1993, a charge denied by President Clinton.

On March 15th in 1999 The US prison population was reported at 1.8 million with 668 inmates per 100,000 residents.

On March 15th in 2000 In Iraq US and British warplanes hit southern targets and Iraq reported that one civilian was killed and 6 injured.

On March 15th in 2000 In Kosovo US troops raided 5 locations in southeastern Kosovo and seized large quantities of arms and ammunition from militant Albanians.

On March 15th in 2003 Many thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in SF, Washington DC and around the world against plans for a war with Iraq.

On March 15th in 2004 The U.S. military said it released 23 Afghan and three Pakistani citizens from the U.S. Navy prison for terrorist suspects in Cuba, leaving about 610 still in detention.

On March 15th in 2005 A US Senate investigators released a new report that said 9 US banks, including Citigroup, Bank of America, and Riggs Bank, enabled Augusto Pinochet, former Chilean dictator, and family members to build a secret network of accounts to conceal his wealth. DC-based Riggs Bank merged with PNC Financial following the inquiry, which also revealed that Pinochet and Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea, had stashed millions in private accounts there.

On March 15th in 2006 The US FCC proposed a record fine of $3.6 million against dozens of CBS stations and affiliates in a crackdown on indecent television programming.

On March 15th in 2007 In the US Senate Republicans easily turned back Democratic legislation requiring a troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin within 120 days.

On March 15th in 2007 Standard & Poor's said an increase in US homes for sale as a result of subprime loan borrowers defaulting on their mortgages, in addition to less construction of new homes, is likely to depress gross domestic product growth.

On March 15th in 2009 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said America's recession "probably" will end this year if the government succeeds in bolstering the banking system.

On March 15th in 2009 American International Group (AIG) said its executives will receive tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses, in order to meet a legal deadline, even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion dollars. The group of top executives getting bonuses will receive half of the $9.6 million now, with the average payment around $112,000. The large bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.

On March 15th in 2010 In Iraq the US military turned over the Taji prison holding some 2,900 detainees to Iraqi authorities.

On March 15th in 2011 In Florida voters in a recall election ousted Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Álvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas after they supported a budget that raised taxes and salaries for county employees.