March 3
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Featured Event
FBI
John Dillinger escapes from prison
On this day in 1934, the notorious gangster John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where he was being held for killing a police officer earlier that year. The jail had been labeled âescape-proofâ (a claim that did not hold up well), but Dillinger was able to walk out with a gunâthat he had fashioned out of wood and colored with shoe polish. After absconding, he stole a car and drove to Chicago, where he would be shot dead by federal agents a few months later. [Read todayâs edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© Tony Duffy/Getty Images
Born this day in 1962 was Jackie Joyner-Kerseeâwidely considered one of the greatest female athletes everâwho was the first to score more than 7,000 points in the heptathlon and won two Olympic gold medals in the event.
Famous Birthdays
More on March 3
© Matthew Holst/Getty Images
2024
Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA basketball, surpassing Pete Maravichâs record of 3,667 points. She later joined the WNBAâs Indiana Fever. Her popularity helped to increase interest in womenâs basketball, which has seen higher TV ratings and greater attendance. [How much do you know about basketball?]
EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
2018
English neurologist Roger Bannister, the first athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes, died at age 88. [Test your knowledge of track and field.]
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
2012
Conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrieâwho notably helped create Darth Vaderâs trademark look in the Star Wars seriesâdied in Berkeley, California. [Take our Star Wars quiz.]
NASA
2005
Steve Fossett became the first person to complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation of the globe without refueling when he landed in Kansas after more than 67 hours in flight.
© Louis MonierâGamma-Rapho/Getty Images
1996
Marguerite Duras died in Paris. She was one of the leading figures of the French postwar literary scene and frequently wrote about obsession and impossible love. [Test your knowledge of famous writers.]
Douglas C. PizacâAP/REX/Shutterstock.com
1991
Following a high-speed car chase, a group of Los Angeles police officers brutally beat Rodney King, an African American motorist. An onlookerâs video showed police using stun guns and metal batons on King, severely injuring him. Despite the evidence, the police offers were acquitted by a Los Angeles jury, leading to some of the largest riots in U.S. history.. [Read our list of 10 significant riots in the United States.]
American Broadcasting Company
1985
The first episode of the sitcom Moonlighting aired on American television. The series was a breakthrough for Bruce Willis, who played a wisecracking private investigator. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about A-list actors.]
EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
1931
The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, was officially adopted as the national anthem of the United States by an act of Congress. [Take our quiz about U.S. history.]
New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3c24600)
1923
The first issue of the American weekly magazine Time was published. It was created by journalists Henry R. Luce and Briton Hadden, who aimed to inform readers about current events in the U.S. and the rest of the world. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about magazines.]
George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. 26094)
1918
The second of two treaties of Brest-Litovsk concluded hostilities between the Central Powers and Soviet Russia during World War I. [Take our quiz about famous conflicts throughout history.]
Brown Brothers
1911
Jean Harlow, who was considered the original âBlonde Bombshell,â was born. Her popularity with filmgoers grew with each of her successive films, and producers saw her potential as a wisecracking comedian starting with her role in the film Red-Headed Woman (1932). [Test your knowledge of movie stars.]
© Photos.com/Getty Images
1861
The Russian emperor Alexander II issued the Emancipation Manifesto, which declared the freeing of the serfs. [Take our Russian history quiz.]
Culver Pictures
1847
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone (1876) and refined the phonograph (1886), was born in Edinburgh. [Test your knowledge of famous inventors and inventions.]
© North Wind Picture Archives
1820
Henry Clay orchestrated the controversial Missouri Compromise, which allowed for the admission of Missouri as the 24th U.S. state. However, the compromise marked the start of decades of conflict over slavery in the United States that culminated in the Civil War. [How much do you know about U.S. history?]
Image: EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
1671
The Paris Opéra first opened, with a performance of Pomone by composer Robert Cambert. [Test your knowledge of opera.]