In this weekend’s Ghosts, we’ll balance you out, running the spectrum from Silly Putty and birthday songs to hunger strikes and justice done. Heavy on peace with a dash of good inventions, we’re bringing you the quirky and the revolutionary here at Tonic. Curl up with your Sunday Times and your sunny-side-up, lazy-day breakfast, sprinkled with a dose of weekend Tonic. We’ve got you covered.
- March 4, 1797: An unprecedented peaceful transfer of power. John Adams steps up as president without having to war with Washington.
- March 2, 1807: Congress finally bans the import of slaves.
- March 3, 1847: Alexander Graham Bell is born. And 29 years later … (see March 7, 1876).
- March 4, 1861: Abe Lincoln’s first inauguration.
- March 7, 1876: Alexander Graham Bell gets his telephone patented; teenagers gain a new pastime.
- March 4, 1924: The song we all hear once a year, with those oh-so-complex lyrics: “Happy Birthday” is published.
- March 3, 1931: The United States gets a national anthem! Forget that only a select few of us can manage to actually belt out the high notes, “The Star Spangled Banner” leaves its mark on baseball and inaugurations alike.
- March 1, 1936: The Hoover Dam is officially completed, leaving a 726-foot deep mark on both construction and energy.
- March 3, 1939: Gandhi begins fasting in one of the most significant peaceful protests in modern history.
- March 5, 1953: A grim ghost, and not so very kind to note, but as Stalin’s death marks the end of an oppressive and bloody era, we’ll add it to the list.
- March 6, 1970: Silly Putty is invented! Hours of newsprint-copying fun!
- March 1,1974: Justice! Seven of the Watergate conspirators are sentenced.
- March 6, 1981: Walter Cronkite signs off for good. The CBS Evening News legend bows out after 19 seasons, leaving high standards for news reporting.
- 1991, March 5, 1991: Iraq releases Gulf War prisoners.