March 27
1794
Congress authorizes the construction of six frigates, including the Constitution (Old Ironsides), for the U.S. Navy.
1866
President Andrew Johnson vetoed a civil rights bill which later became the 14th amendment.
1884
The first long-distance telephone call was made, between Boston and New York.
1917
The Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. hockey team to win the Stanley Cup.
1958
Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier and first secretary of the Communist Party.
1964
A 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit 80 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska, killing 117 and producing a 50-foot tsunami that traveled over 8,000 miles.
1977
Pan American and KLM Boeing 747s collided on a runway in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands. The 542 people killed is the highest ever for an aviation disaster.
2001
A federal judge ruled that the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy was invalid, a ruling that later would be reversed in an appeal.
Birthdays
Georges Eugène Haussmann
civic official and city planner (1809)
Nathaniel Currier
lithographer (1813)
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
physicist (1845)
Edward Steichen
American photographer (1879)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
architect (1886)
Louis Simpson
poet (1923)
Sarah Vaughan
singer (1924)
Michael York
actor (1942)
Quentin Tarantino
filmmaker (1963)
Mariah Carey
singer (1970)