Major Events
- 1602 United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) forms granted a monopoly in all Dutch sea-borne trade with Asia
- 1800 Alessandro Volta reports his discovery of the electric battery in a letter to Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London
- 1815 Napoléon Bonaparte enters Paris after his escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule
- 1854 Republican Party formally organized in Ripon, Wisconsin
- 1900 US Secretary of State John Hay announces that all nations to whom he sent notes calling for an 'open door' policy in China have essentially accepted his stand
- 1933 Dachau the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed
- 2016 Barack Obama becomes the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928, arriving for a 3 day tour
- 2024 New rule limiting tailpipe pollution, aimed at greatly expanding electric vehicles in the US is announced by President Joe Biden [1]
- 2024 Vaughan Gething confirmed as Welsh new first minister and the first black leader of a national government in Europe [1]
- More March 20 Events
Mar 20 in Film & TV
- 1952 24th Academy Awards: "An American in Paris", Humphrey Bogart and Vivien Leigh win
Mar 20 in Music
- 1991 Michael Jackson signs $65 million deal with Sony Records to produce six albums
Mar 20 in Sport
- 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame, 11 weeks after his death in a plane crash
Did You Know?
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published in Boston
Henrik Ibsen
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Brian Mulroney
Carl Reiner
Fred Rogers
William Hurt
Spike Lee
Holly Hunter
David Thewlis
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Vaughn Meader
Bobby Orr
Fun Fact About March 20
Indian rivers Yamuna and the Ganges declared "living entities" by court in the state of Uttarakhand
Famous Weddings
- 1848 King Louis I of Bayern abdicates to marry dancer Lola Montez
- 1878 53rd UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose (31) weds heiress Hannah de Rothschild (27) at the Board of Guardians in Mount Street, London
- 1934 Vietnam emperor Bảo Đại (20) weds empress Nam Phương (19) at the imperial city of Huế
Famous Divorces
- 2009 "Dawson's Creek" actor Kerr Smith (37) divorces actress Harmoni Everett (34) due to irreconcilable differences after 6 years of marriage
More March 20 Weddings
Henry IV of England
Albert of Prussia
Harry Vardon
A. E. Douglass
Brendan Behan
Kenny RogersArticles, Photos and Quiz
Welcome Shoppers, But No Whistling Please
Burlington Arcade, one of London's finest shopping streets, was opened on this day, partly as a deterrent to litter louts.
March 20, 1819
'I Shall Return'
A statue in the Philippines commemorating the promised return of American commander Douglas MacArthur in World War II
March 20, 1942
A First Lady Goes Shoplifting
While former Panama military dictator Manuel Noriega was awaiting his fate on racketeering charges, his wife Felicidad was having her own run-in with the law.
March 20, 1992
Obama Family Visit Cuba
Barack and Michelle Obama walk through the rainy streets of Havana, Cuba
March 20, 2016
