Well, let’s see now: Thursday, March 14th was Pi Day (celebrating 3.14159, and so on, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum); Friday the 15th commemorated the Ides of March (made famous by the assassination of Julius Caesar on that date in 44 B.C.E.); and tomorrow, March 17th, will be St. Patrick’s Day, when everyone can claim to be Irish, eat corned beef and cabbage, drink too much green beer, and spew green vomit all over the bathroom on the 18th. (Which happens to be my birthday, but it is not generally celebrated worldwide, and I plan to stay away from the Roman Forum in case Brutus and his buddies are out in search of another victim. So, not a holiday on the 18th.)

But what about today, stuck between the Ides and the Irish? Except for the fact that it has to be somebody’s birthday somewhere, it’s a nothing kind of day. So let’s see if we can liven things up with a bit of more-or-less interesting trivia from some March 16ths in history.

On March 16, 1802, the U.S. Congress established the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, on the banks of the scenic Hudson River. But this almost didn’t happen. During the Revolutionary War period, a fort was built at West Point to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack. In 1780, American Patriot General Benedict Arnold (remember him?) was commander of the fort — a job that apparently didn’t pay very well. Because for the sum of 6,000 British pounds (about U.S. $135,000 today), Arnold had agreed to surrender the fort to the British enemy. Fortunately, the plot was uncovered, and Arnold did a runner to the British side, thus firmly embedding his name in American parlance as a synonym for “traitor.”

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On this date in 2008, investment banking giant Bear Stearns took a nosedive and was sold to J.P. Morgan Chase for $2 per share. In typical dominoes fashion, all hell broke loose and we soon found ourselves in the great recession of 2008. Not such a happy memory.

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On March 16, 1968, an event occurred in Son Tinh District, South Vietnam, that marked one of the darkest days in the history of the United States Military. In what became known as the My Lai Massacre, between 347 and 504 civilians — men, women, children, and infants — were slaughtered by U.S. Army personnel in what was the largest known massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th Century. Something we’d all like to forget, but shouldn’t, lest it happen again.

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On March 16, 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho premiered . . . and people throughout the U.S. stopped showering alone for a very long time.

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In 1912 on this date, future FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) Thelma Catherine Ryan was born in Ely, Nevada. Nicknamed “Pat,” she grew up to become the devoted wife of Richard M. Nixon . . . and we all know what happened to him. So, another hopeful beginning on a March 16th in history, with a not-so-happy ending.

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In fact, most of what makes the news, and the history books, seems to be the bad stuff. As I have remarked numerous times in the past . . . if it ain’t bad, it ain’t news.

So here’s looking forward to a festive St. Paddy’s day tomorrow, and all the green beer you can handle.

TTFN,
Brendochka
3/16/24