This day in history

[del]

• 1959 The Barbie doll goes on sale
  
  The American toy company Mattel claims that more than one billion Barbie dolls have been sold so far, with about 3 dolls being sold every second.
  

[del]

• 2000 The dotcom bubble bursts when the NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5408.60
  
  The dotcom boom, which started in 1997, accompanied the advent of countless new Internet-based companies. When the speculative bubble burst, many small investors were affected.
  

[DGUtley]

On this date in legal history: Gorbachev becomes USSR leader. On March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. He soon announced that he would hold arms-reduction negotiations in Geneva with the United States. Gorbachev also used his tenure to liberalize the economy and social structure of the USSR, eventually leading to the abatement of the Soviet Union. In 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Attachment 17473

[Peter1469]

March 16,
1802U.S. Military Academy established

The United States Military Academy–the first military school in the United States–is founded by Congress for the purpose of educating and training young men in the theory and practice of military science. Located at West Point, New York, the U.S. Military Academy is often simply known as West Point.

Located on the high west bank of New York’s Hudson River, West Point was the site of a Revolutionary-era fort built to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack. In 1780, Patriot General Benedict Arnold, the commander of the fort, agreed to surrender West Point to the British in exchange for 6,000 pounds. However, the plot was uncovered before it fell into British hands, and Arnold fled to the British for protection.


Ten years after the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy in 1802, the growing threat of another war with Great Britain resulted in congressional action to expand the academy’s facilities and increase the West Point corps. Beginning in 1817, the U.S. Military Academy was reorganized by superintendent Sylvanus Thayer–later known as the “father of West Point”–and the school became one of the nation’s finest sources of civil engineers. During the Mexican-American War, West Point graduates filled the leading ranks of the victorious U.S. forces, and with the outbreak of the Civil War former West Point classmates regretfully lined up against one another in the defense of their native states.

[Peter1469]

March 18, 1852 Wells and Fargo start shipping and banking company

This is a neat bit of history.

On this day in 1852, in New York City, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo join with several other investors to launch their namesake business.

The discovery of gold in California in 1849 prompted a huge spike in the demand for cross-country shipping. Wells and Fargo decided to take advantage of these great opportunities. In July 1852, their company shipped its first loads of freight from the East Coast to mining camps scattered around northern California. The company contracted with independent stagecoach companies to provide the fastest possible transportation and delivery of gold dust, important documents and other valuable freight. It also served as a bank–buying gold dust, selling paper bank drafts and providing loans to help fuel California’s growing economy.


In 1857, Wells, Fargo and Co. formed the Overland Mail Company, known as the “Butterfield Line,” which provided regular mail and passenger service along an ever-growing number of routes. In the boom-and-bust economy of the 1850s, the company earned a reputation as a trustworthy and reliable business, and its logo–the classic stagecoach–became famous. For a premium price, Wells, Fargo and Co. would send an employee on horseback to deliver or pick up a message or package.

[DGUtley]

This day in legal history:

Supreme Court requires states to provide counsel for indigent defendants

On March 18, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright held that the Constitution requires states to provide counsel for indigent criminal defendants. For a unanimous Court, Justice Hugo Black wrote, "any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him." Counsel had been required for indigent federal defendants since 1938.



Read a history of the Right to Counsel from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

[Common]

This day in legal history:

Supreme Court requires states to provide counsel for indigent defendants

On March 18, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright held that the Constitution requires states to provide counsel for indigent criminal defendants. For a unanimous Court, Justice Hugo Black wrote, "any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him." Counsel had been required for indigent federal defendants since 1938.



Read a history of the Right to Counsel from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

I learned something, I thought requiring the legal counsel law for states was older than 1963, I see for federal trials it was 1938.

[Peter1469]

March 19, 2003

War in Iraq begins

On this day in 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction.

[del]

March 19, 2003

War in Iraq begins

america loses

[rcfieldz]

This day in history

I hope to be regular.