Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

March 21

2003
Iraq War: White House spokesman Ari Fleisher states, "Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly¼ All this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes."

1989
Al Copeland of Popeyes buys Church's Fried Chicken. This eventually drove the company into bankruptcy.

1973
Watergate: Pres. Nixon and his council, John Dean, discuss offering clemency and hush money as part of the cover-up.

1965
Martin Luther King, Jr. begins a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. More than 25,000 demonstrators gathered at the capitol in Montgomery.

1963
Boxing: Sugar Ramos knocks featherweight champion Davey Moore through the ropes during a title fight. Moore died two days later from injuries he received when his head hit the ring apron. As a result, a fourth rope was added to boxing rings to help catch the fighters.

1963
Alcatraz federal prison closes: The San Francisco prison had been built in the 1830s.

1958
First Sylvanus Thayer Award is presented, to American physicist Ernest O. Lawrence.

1935
Iran: The Shah of Persia issues a decree requesting the use of the name "Iran" instead of the current name "Persia."

1925
Evolution: The teaching of evolution in public schools is outlawed by the state of Tennessee. John T. Scopes was later convicted of violating this law, in the celebrated "monkey" trial.

1924
Daily reading of the Bible becomes mandatory in Kentucky public schools.

2228
James T. Kirk, fictional captain of the Enterprise on Star Trek.

1962
Matthew Broderick, American Tony-winning actor. Stage: Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983, Tony). Film: WarGames (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985), and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).

1958
Gary Oldman, English actor. Film: Sid and Nancy (1986, Sid Vicious), JFK (1991, Oswald), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993, Dracula on a bad hair day).

1946
Timothy Dalton, British actor, 4th James Bond for United Artists. Film: The Living Daylights (1987) and License to Kill (1989).

1934
Al Freeman Jr., American Emmy-winning actor. TV: One Life to Live (Capt. Ed Hall).

1923     d. 1998
Philip Abbott, actor. TV: The FBI (Arthur Ward).

1904     d. 1990
Forrest Edward Mars, Sr., American candy maker, inventor of M&M's. They were designed so that soldiers would not get their trigger fingers sticky.

1882     d. 1971
G.M. "Bronco Billy" Anderson (Max Aronson), western actor and director. He became the first male movie star with The Great Train Robbery (1903). In 1957 he received a special Oscar "for his contributions to the development of motion pictures as entertainment."

1869     d. 1932
Florenz Ziegfeld, American theatrical producer, creator of Ziegfeld Follies (1907).

1768     d. 1830
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, French mathematician. He developed the Fourier Series, one of the landmarks of mathematics.

1713     d. 1802
Francis Lewis, American patriot, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1685     d. 1750
Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer and organist, one of the greatest composers in music history.

1994     b. 1913
Macdonald Carey, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Days of Our Lives (Dr. Horton and narrator for the opening, "Like sands through the hourglass ...") and Roots (1977, Squire James).

1994     b. 1941
Dack Rambo (Norman Rambeau), American actor. TV: All My Children (Steve Jacobi) and Dallas (Jack Ewing).

1949     b. 1857
Samuel Sidney McClure, American publisher, founder of McClure syndicate (1884) and McClure's Magazine (1893).

1915     b. 1856
Frederick Winslow Taylor, America's first efficiency expert, called the father of scientific management.

1617     b. circa 1595
Pocahontas, American Indian, married Capt. John Rolfe (1614). She died in England.

543     b. circa 480
Saint Benedict of Nursia, Italian monk, founder of Western monasticism, known for his gift of prophecy, he correctly predicted the day and time of his own death.

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