On this day, March 21
1685 Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
1935 Persia officially changed its name to Iran.
1952 The Moondog Coronation Ball, considered the first rock and roll concert, took place at Cleveland Arena.
1965 Civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their third successful march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
1972 The Supreme Court, in Dunn v. Blumstein, ruled that states may not require at least a year’s residency for voting eligibility.
2012 Meting out unprecedented punishment for a bounty system that targeted key opposing players, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton without pay for the coming season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator. Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away two draft picks.
2013 In the Middle East, President Barack Obama insisted “peace is possible” as he prodded both Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations with few, if any, pre-conditions.
2017 At his Senate confirmation hearing, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch declared he’d made no promises to President Donald Trump or anyone else about how he would vote on abortion or other issues.
2019 President Donald Trump abruptly declared that the U.S. would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a major shift in American policy.
2023 Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, died at age 80.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Kathleen Widdoes, 85. Songwriter Chip Taylor (“Wild Thing”), 84. Folk-pop singer-musician Keith Potger (The Seekers), 83. Actor Marie-Christine Barrault, 80. Singer-musician Rose Stone (Sly and the Family Stone), 79. Actor Timothy Dalton, 78. Singer Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry), 78. Rock singer-musician Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), 74. Rock musician Conrad Lozano (Los Lobos), 73. R&B singer Russell Thompkins Jr., 73. Comedy writerperformer Brad Hall, 66. Actor Sabrina LeBeauf, 66. Actor Gary Oldman, 66. Actor Kassie Depaiva, 63. Actor Matthew Broderick, 62. Comedian-actor Rosie O’Donnell, 62. Actor Cynthia Geary, 59. Hip-hop DJ Premier (Gang Starr), 58. Rock musician Jonas “Joker” Berggren (Ace of Base), 57. Rock MC Maxim (Prodigy), 57.