President Grover Cleveland.
What Happened On
Empty frame from which thieves cut out Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633)
Empty frame from which thieves cut out Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633)
$500 Million Art Theft - Can you earn the $10,000,000 reward?
March 18, 1990
A pair of thieves dressed as policemen steal 13 works of art valued at over $500,000,000 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, including works by Rembrandt, Manet, and Degas, in what is the largest property theft in history. The two fake policemen pushed the Museum door buzzer, stating they were responding to a disturbance, and requested to be let in. The museum guard broke protocol and let them in. The fake officers then handcuffed him and a second security guard and proceeded to steal the works of art.
Evidence collected from the scene, including handcuffs and duct tape that may have contained DNA, was lost by the FBI.
The case remains unsolved and none of the artwork has been recovered. There is a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of all 13 works of art in good condition. One clue is the fact that thieves seem to have made odd choices in their selection of art to steal, as there were more valuable pieces that could have just as easily been stolen.
Arab Oil Embargo Ends
March 18, 1974
The Arab Oil Embargo on the U.S. is ended. It had started the previous October when OAPEC (Arab members of OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) declared an oil embargo on the U.S., Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the U.K. for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo targeted the U.S. for resupplying the Israeli military during the war. During the embargo, the price of oil had risen nearly 400%, from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12.
Alexey A. Leonov
Alexey A. Leonov
First Space Walk
March 18, 1965
The first space walk is conducted by Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov. He exited the capsule Voskhod 2 for a 12-minute and 9-second spacewalk.
Leonov almost didn't make it back into the spacecraft. During his spacewalk, his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not fit back through the airlock. He had to open a valve to allow some of his suit's pressure to bleed off and was just barely able to get back in.
While on the mission, Leonov drew a small sketch of an orbital sunrise, producing the first ever work of art made in outer space.
Grand Master Molay and Templars Burned at the Stake
Grand Master Molay and Templars Burned at the Stake
End of the Knights Templar
March 18, 1314
Grand Master of the Knights Templar (1292-1307) Jacques de Molay and other Templars are burned at the stake, bringing about an end to the order. In 1307, King Philip IV of France, who was deeply in debt to the Knights Templars, arrested Molay and tortured him into making a false confession. When Molay recanted his confession, Philip had him burned at the stake in front of Notre Dame de Paris.
The order for their arrest was issued on Friday October 13, 1307, which is claimed to be the basis for the belief that Friday the 13th is bad luck.
Terri Schiavo
March 18, 2005
After a lengthy legal battle over the right of her husband to do so, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is removed resulting in her death 13 days later. She had suffered a cardiac arrest in 1990 that left her severely brain damaged.
Why Should We Hear About Body Bags and Deaths
March 18, 2003
"But why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" - Former First Lady Barbara Bush commenting on the impending Iraq War on the TV show Good Morning America.
Money
March 18, 1986
The U.S. Treasury announced that U.S. currency would undergo its first major change in 50 years, including micro printing on the paper and on threads woven into the paper.
First U.S. Navy Ship Named in Honor of a Black Naval Officer
March 18, 1972
The USS Jesse L. Brown is launched. Jesse L. Brown was the first black American naval aviator and the first black naval officer killed in combat (1950, Korea).
NATO
March 18, 1949
The text of the North Atlantic Treaty that would establish NATO is made public. It would be signed by 12 nations the following month. It was put together by World War II allies. Moscow called it a weapon of war.
First Flight of the Douglas A-1
March 18, 1945
It was the U.S. Navy's first single-seat, carrier-based dive bomber.
Birthdays
Vanessa Williams
Born March 18, 1963
Miss New York, the first black Miss America (1983). She was forced to relinquish her crown (July 1984) after Penthouse magazine announced it would publish nude photos of her with another woman. Film: Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) and Eraser (1996).
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
Isaac Woodard
Born March 18, 1919 d. 1992
African-American war veteran, civil rights victim. In 1946, while traveling home after being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, African-American Isaac Woodard still in uniform, is attacked and beaten by several South Carolina police officers over a dispute with a bus driver over the use of a restroom. He was then arrested and further beaten by the chief of police for reportedly answering "yes" instead of "yes, sir". The attack left Woodard completely and permanently blind. Suffering from partial amnesia, he was fined $50 and denied medical treatment for two days. When South Carolina wouldn't pursue the case, U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered a federal investigation. The sheriff was acquitted by an all-white jury in federal court in South Carolina. This incident was the subject of Woody Guthrie's song, The Blinding of Isaac Woodard.
Grover Cleveland
Born March 18, 1837 d. 1908
American politician. 22nd and 24th U.S. President (1885-89, 1893-97) and Governor of New York (1883-85).
• He was the first Democratic U.S. President since the Civil War.
• Cleveland avoided the Civil War draft by hiring someone to take his place.
• In 1893, President Cleveland had a tumor in mouth secretly removed. Under the guise of going on a fishing trip, he had doctors remove the tumor while aboard a friend's yacht. They removed the tumor along with about five teeth and a large part of his upper left jaw. When a reporter uncovered the story, Cleveland denied it and launched a smear campaign to discredit the reporter.
• Cleveland is the only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms.
• Cleveland was the first and only U.S. president married in the White House and the second to wed while in office. • • He married 21-year-old Frances Folsom, making her the youngest U.S. First Lady.
• Their first child Ruth Cleveland was born between his terms as U.S. President and became an instant media sensation, popularly known as "Baby Ruth". In 1921, seventeen years after her death, the Curtiss Candy Company renamed their Kandy Kake (1900-1920) candy bar "Baby Ruth" in honor of her. Coincidently, the famous baseball player Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth) had hit 54 home runs the year before and had been the home run leader since 1918. Had they named it "Babe Ruth", they probably would have had to compensate him.
• Grover Cleveland's portrait graces the U.S. $1,000 bill.
First U.S. Vice-President to Resign
John Caldwell Calhoun
Born March 18, 1782 d. 1850
American politician. 7th U.S. Vice-President (1824-32). After a disagreement with President Andrew Jackson, he became the first U.S. Vice-President to resign. He then went on to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate.
Irene Cara (Irene Cara Escalera)
Born March 18, 1959 d. 2022
Oscar-Grammy-winning singer, actress. Film: Fame (1980, Coco Hernandez and sang title song). Music: Flashdance… What a Feeling (1983, Oscar, Grammy). TV: The Electric Company (1971-72, member of the show's band Short Circus), Roots: The Next Generations (1979) and Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980).
Kevin Dobson
Born March 18, 1943 d. 2020
American actor. TV: Kojak (Lt. Crocker) and Knots Landing (Mack).
Wilson Pickett
Born March 18, 1941 d. 2006
American R&B and soul singer. Music: In the Midnight Hour (1965, #1), Mustang Sally (1966), and 634-5789 (1966, #1).
Charley Pride
Born March 18, 1934 d. 2020
American Hall of Fame Grammy-winning country singer, baseball player (Memphis Red Sox, 1954). He is considered the most successful black country singer and was the first country singer to perform the national anthem at a Super Bowl (1974). He became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis Presley. During the peak years of his recording career (1966–87), he had 30 #1 hits and won the Entertainer of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards (1971).
John Updike
Born March 18, 1932 d. 2009
American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: The Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom series which included Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, each of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Peter Graves (Peter Duesler Aurness)
Born March 18, 1926 d. 2010
American actor. TV: Mission: Impossible (1967-73, Jim Phelps). Film: Airplane! (1980).
His older brother was actor James Arness.
Pierre Plantard
Born March 18, 1920 d. 2000
French "historian." His claims about the Priory of Sion were the basis of such books as Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982) and The Da Vinci Code (2003). He also claimed he was descended from King Dagobert II, and therefore was a Merovingian claimant to the throne of France.
Smiley Burnette (Lester Alvin Burnette)
Born March 18, 1911 d. 1967
American actor. Film: He was Gene Autry's comic partner in 81 Western films. TV: Petticoat Junction (train engineer Charlie Pratt).
Herman Tarnower
Born March 18, 1910 d. 1980
American physician, author. Writings: The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet (1978), which promoted a high-protein low-carbohydrate diet known as the Scarsdale diet. He was killed by his ex-lover Jean Harris.
Robert Donat
Born March 18, 1905 d. 1958
English Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), The 39 Steps (1935, Richard Hannay), and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939, Oscar, title role).
Rudolf Diesel
Born March 18, 1858 d. 1913
German engineer and inventor of the diesel engine (1892).
Joshua Ballinger Lippincott
Born March 18, 1813 d. 1886
American publisher. Founder of J.B. Lippincott & Co. (1836).
Francis Lieber
Born March 18, 1800 d. 1872
German-born American historian, political economist. Creator and first editor of the Encyclopaedia Americana (1829-33). He created the Lieber Code during the American Civil War (1863, aka Code for the Government of Armies in the Field). The Lieber Code is considered the first document to comprehensively outline rules regulating the conduct of war, and laid the foundation for the Geneva Conventions.
Deaths
Chuck Berry (Charles Edward Anderson Berry)
Died March 18, 2017 b. 1926
American rock 'n' roller. He served two years in prison (1962-64) for transporting a 14-year-old across state lines to work as a hat-check girl in his St. Louis nightclub. He was also accused of having sex with her. He was convicted and served 20 months in prison. He had hired her, but fired her after two weeks. Several days after she was fired she was arrested for prostitution and told police about her relationship with Berry, which led to his arrest.
Music: Roll Over Beethoven (1956), Sweet Little Sixteen (1958), Johnny B Goode (1958), and My Ding-A-Ling (1972, #1).
Osborne 1
Photo Credit: Bilby
Osborne 1Photo Credit: Bilby
Created the "Osborne Effect", Which Bankrupted His Company
Adam Osborne
Died March 18, 2003 b. 1939
Thailand-born British-American personal computer pioneer. He created the first commercially available portable computer, the Osborne 1 (1981). He is also credited with the "Osborne Effect," after announcing the development of his company's new advanced computers. Buyers chose to wait for the new computers, thus killing the sales of the current Osborne 1, bankrupting the company.
Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman)
Died March 18, 1845 b. 1774
American folk hero. He devoted his life to planting apple seeds. It is said that his usual dress consisted of bare feet, a burlap sack for a shirt, and a tin pan hat.
Fess Parker (Fess Elisha Parker, Jr.)
Died March 18, 2010 b. 1924
American actor. TV: Disneyland (1955-56, Davy Crockett) and Daniel Boone (1964-70, title role). His portrayal of Davy Crockett launched the coonskin hat craze in the U.S.
John Phillips
Died March 18, 2001 b. 1935
American folk singer, with The Mamas & the Papas. Music: San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) (1967), California Dreamin' (1963), and Monday, Monday (1967).
William Crapo Durant
Died March 18, 1947 b. 1861
American auto manufacturer. Founder of Buick Motor Car Co. (1905), General Motors (1908), Chevrolet Motor Co (1915), and Durant Motors Inc (1921).
Honorius III
Died March 18, 1227 b. ????
Italian religious leader, 177th Pope (1216-27).