On this day, March 14
1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America’s cotton industry.
1879 Physicist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany.
1939 The republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.
1951 During the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.
1962 Democrat Edward M. Kennedy officially launched in Boston his successful candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts once held by his brother, President John F. Kennedy. (Edward Kennedy served in the Senate for nearly 47 years.)
1964 A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. (Both the conviction and death sentence were overturned, but Ruby died before he could be retried.)
1967 The body of President John F. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington
National Cemetery in Virginia.
1980 A LOT Polish Airlines jet crashed while attempting to land in Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.
2011 Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Darlene Love, Dr. John and Leon Russell were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2013 During his first full day as pontiff, Pope Francis stopped by his Vatican hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself.
2015 Robert Durst, a wealthy eccentric linked to two killings and his wife’s disappearance, was arrested by the FBI in New Orleans on a murder warrant a day before HBO aired the final episode of a serial documentary about his life. (Durst would be convicted in the shooting death of his friend, Susan Berman; he died in January 2022 while serving a life sentence in California.)
2018 Tens of thousands of students across the country walked out of their classrooms to demand action on gun violence and school safety; the action came a month after the shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Today’s birthdays: Former astronaut Frank Borman, 95. Actor Michael Caine, 90. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones, 90. Actor Raymond J. Barry, 84. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey, 78. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (formerly with Chicago), 78. Actor Steve Kanaly, 77. Comedian Billy Crystal, 75. Actor-writer-comedian-radio personality Rick Dees,72. Country singer Jann Browne, 69. Actor Adrian Zmed, 69. Actor Laila Robins. 64. Actor Tamara Tunie. 64. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson, 58. Actor Elise Neal, 57. Actor Gary Anthony Williams, 57. Actor Megan Follows, 55. Rock musician Michael Bland, 54. Country singer Kristian Bush, 53. Actor Betsy Brandt, 50. Actor Grace Park, 49. Actor Daniel Gillies, 47. Actor Corey Stoll, 47. Actor Jake Fogelnest, 44. Actor Chris Klein, 44. Actor Ryan Cartwright (TV: “Kevin Can Wait”), 42. Actor Kate Maberly, 41. Singermusician Taylor Hanson (Hanson), 40. Actor Jamie Bell, 37. Rock musician Este Haim (Haim), 37. NBA star Stephen Curry, 35. Actor Ansel Elgort, 29. Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles, 26.