March 4
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Featured Event
Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum website; version date 2009
Inauguration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
On this day in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the last U.S. president to be inaugurated on March 4. Inauguration Day had typically been on this day since George Washington started his second term (except when it fell on a Sunday, and then presidents became president on March 5). In January 1933, the Twentieth Amendment changed Inauguration Day to January 20—which meant that, in 1937, FDR started his second term by becoming the first president inaugurated on that day. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Fotograaf Onbekend—Anefo/Nationaal Archief (CC0 1.0)
One of the world’s most prominent Black African performers of the 20th century, Miriam Makeba, who introduced Xhosa and Zulu songs to Western audiences, was born near Johannesburg this day in 1932.
Famous Birthdays
More on March 4
© 1962 Universal Pictures Company, Inc.; photograph from a private collection
2009
Playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote—who evoked American life in beautifully observed minimal stories and remains best known for his adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird—died in Connecticut. [Take our To Kill a Mockingbird quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1982
Bertha Wilson became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. [Sort fact from fiction in our Canada quiz.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; neg. no. LC USZ 62 92855
1933
Frances Perkins was sworn in as U.S. secretary of labor in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was the first woman appointed to a cabinet post and served one of the longest terms of any Roosevelt appointee (1933–45). [Read about some notable female politicians in history.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZ62-116347)
1888
Knute Rockne—who, while at the University of Notre Dame, became intercollegiate football’s first true celebrity coach—was born in Voss, Norway. [Test your knowledge of American football.]
Hisham F. Ibrahim/Getty Images
1837
Chicago was incorporated as a city, with a population of about 4,200. The city is known for its creativity in the arts, architecture, and business, as well as its proximity to Lake Michigan. [How much do you know about Chicago?]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1804
Irish convicts rose up in the Castle Hill Rising, Australia’s first rebellion. The uprising was suppressed by the troops of the New South Wales Corps and Loyal Associations, leaving 15 dead and many wounded. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Australia.]
Architect of the Capitol
1789
The U.S. Constitution went into effect as the governing law of the United States, the date having been established by Congress. It served for many years as the day U.S. presidents were inaugurated. [Take our quiz about U.S. constitutional history.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (cph 3g12141)
1681
William Penn secured the colonial province of Pennsylvania in North America, where he hoped to provide a refuge in the New World for Quakers and other persecuted people and to build an ideal Christian commonwealth. [Who founded the Society of Friends, or Quaker, movement?]
Photos.com/Thinkstock
1678
Composer and violinist Antonio Vivaldi, who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music, was born in Venice. [Test your knowledge of classical composers.]
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
1461
King Henry VI of England was deposed by Yorkists and replaced by Edward IV. [Sort fact from fiction in our English royalty quiz.]