- Mar 1 "Red, White, & Maddox" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 41 performances
- Mar 1 After 88 weeks, the Beatles' album "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" drops off the charts
Music History
Mar 1 Jim Morrison allegedly exposes himself on stage at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Florida
Sports History
Mar 1 New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle announces his retirement due to persistent knee injuries; finishes 18-season career with 536 home runs and .298 batting average
NHL Record
Mar 1 Phil Esposito has a goal and assist in Boston Bruins' 8-5 win over NY Rangers to give him 99 points for the season, breaking the NHL record for most points in a season (97) held by Stan Mikita
- Mar 1 Pirate Radio 259 begins operation off the French coast
- Mar 1 Tuesdee Testa becomes the first female jockey to win a race at a major American Thoroughbred track when she takes out the 3rd race at Santa Anita Park aboard Buz On
- Mar 2 1st test flight of the supersonic Concorde
- Mar 2 Boston center Phil Esposito becomes first player in NHL history to record 100 points in a season when he scores 2 3rd-period goals in the Bruins' 4-0 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins
- Mar 2 Chinese-Russian borders fight (approx 70 die)
Music History
Mar 2 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 14th Symphony
- Mar 3 Apollo 9 launched for 151 Earth orbits (10 days)
Album Release
Mar 3 Apple Records releases Mary Hopkin's debut album "Post Card", in the US, produced by Paul McCartney: US version substitutes her earlier hit singles for two tracks included on the UK version
- Mar 4 London East End gang bosses twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray are found guilty of murder. Both will die in captivity.
- Mar 5 Gold reaches then record high ($47 per ounce) in Paris
- Mar 5 Gustav Heinemann elected President of West Germany
- Mar 5 Joe Orton's "What the Butler Saw" premieres in London
- Mar 7 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Mar 8 16th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: North Carolina beats Duke, 85-74
Murder of Interest
Mar 10 James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
Grammy Awards
Mar 12 11th Grammy Awards: "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" by Glen Campbell wins best record
- Mar 12 120 cannabis joints found at George & Patti Harrison's home
- Mar 13 Apollo 9 returns to Earth
- Mar 14 Barbara Jo Rubin becomes first female jockey to win at Aqueduct Racetrack, NYC aboard 2-year-old bay Bravy Galaxy at 13 to 1
- Mar 14 CBS-TV renews "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" for a third season
- Mar 14 West Indies cricket batsman Seymour Nurse scores career high 258 in his last Test innings in 3rd Test win over NZ at Christchurch
- Mar 15 US Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigns
- Mar 15 Violent Chinese-Russian border dispute leaves 100s dead
- Mar 16 Boston Bruins scores a NHL record 8 goals in 1 period
- Mar 16 Sherman Edwards' historical musical "1776", starring William Daniels and Ken Howard, opens at 46th St Theater (transferring to the St. James, and later the Majestic), NYC; runs for 1217 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards
- Mar 16 Viasa DC-9 crashes at Maracaibo's Grano de Oro airport, killing 155
Israeli History
Mar 17 Golda Meir becomes Israel's 4th Prime Minister, the first and only female to hold the office
- Mar 18 "Come Summer" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 7 performances
- Mar 19 British invade Anguilla
- Mar 19 Chicago 8 indicted in aftermath of Chicago Democratic convention
- Mar 19 The 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build- up.
- Mar 21 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Mar 22 "Billy" opens & closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 1 performance
- Mar 22 "Come Summer" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 7 performances
- Mar 22 31st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Purdue 92-72; Bruins' 3-peat; center Lew Alcindor tournament Most Outstanding Player for 3rd consecutive year
Sports History
Mar 22 Ethiopian double Olympic marathon gold medalist Abebe Bikila (36) is paralyzed in auto accident near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; regained upper-body mobility, but never walked again
Music Concert
Mar 25 American singer Judy Garland’s gives what becomes her very last concert, at Falkoner Centret in Copenhagen, Denmark
- Mar 25 Andes Pact signed in Peru
Music History
Mar 25 Beatle John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono stage their 1st bed-in for peace, at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Event of Interest
Mar 25 Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting, loyalists in Northern Ireland are jailed for organising an illegal counter demonstration in Armagh on 30 November 1968
- Mar 25 Pakistan General Agha Mohammed Jagja Khan succeeds Ayub Chan as president
- Mar 26 "Marcus Welby, M.D.", starring Robert Young and James Brolin debuts as a TV movie on ABC-TV, prior to becoming a weekly series
- Mar 26 Nuclear reactor Dodewaard in the Netherlands is commissioned
- Mar 26 Soviet weather satellite Meteor 1 launched
- Mar 27 Black Academy of Arts & Letters forms in Boston
- Mar 27 Launch of Mariner 7, flies 2,190-mi above southern Mars
- Mar 28 Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate Giorgos Seferis makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece
- Mar 29 123rd Grand National: Eddie P. Harty Sr. aboard 100/9 chance Highland Wedding wins by 12 lengths from Steel Bridge
- Mar 29 14th Eurovision Song Contest: Salome of Spain ("Vivo cantando"), Lulu of United Kingdom ("Boom Bang-a-Bang"), Lenny Kuhr of Netherlands ("De troubadour"), and Frida Boccara of France ("Un jour, un enfant") all win in Madrid, Spain
- Mar 29 Communist New People's Army founded in the Philippines
- Mar 30 Loyalists bomb water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland in the hope that the attacks would be blamed on the IRA and on elements of the civil rights movement, which was demanding an end to discrimination against Catholics
Music History
Mar 31 George Harrison and Pattie Boyd are fined £250 each for illegal drugs
Slaughterhouse-Five
Mar 31 The NY Times reviews "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut on its publication, saying "you'll either love it, or push it back in the science-fiction corner"
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists