On This Day: March 29

This is the 88th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: rocket and cow

In November 1960, an American rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, went off-course and a piece of debris fell in Cuba, killing a cow. The Cuban government gave the cow an official funeral as the victim of "imperialist aggression."

Holidays

Feast day of Saints Gwynllyw and Gwladys, St. Cyril of Heliopolis, St. Berthold, St. Mark of Arethusa, St. Rupert of Salzburg, Saints Jonas, Barachisius and Others, Saints ArmogaSt.es, Masculas, Achinimus, and Saturus.

Taiwan: Youth Day.

United States: Vietnam Veterans Day. On this day in 1973, the last American troops left South Vietnam.

Delaware: Swedish Colonial Day.

Central African Republic: Boganda Day.

Madagascar: Commemoration Day.

Events

1638 - Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware.

1812 - The first White House wedding took place, when Lucy Payne Washington (First Lady Dolly Madison's sister) married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd.

1848 - An ice jam at the source of the Niagara River stopped the flow of Niagara Falls for the first time.

1867 - The British Parliament passed the British North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.

1882 - The Knights of Columbus was chartered, in Connecticut.

1886 - Coca-Cola went on sale; it was marketed as a "brain tonic" and claimed to relieve exhaustion. It was invented by Dr. John Pemberton.

1943 - Meat, butter, and cheese rationing began during World War II.

1951 - Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage; they were executed in 1953.

1961 - The 23rd Amendment, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote for president, was ratified.

1971 - Army Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr. was convicted of murdering at least 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre; he spent three years under house arrest.

1973 - America's involvement in the Vietnam War ended when, two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam. Hanoi freed the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam at the same time.

1974 - U.S. space probe Mariner 10, launched by NASA in November 1973, became the first spacecraft to visit the planet Mercury.

1976 - Eight Ohio National Guardsmen were indicted for shooting four Kent State students during an anti-war protest on May 4, 1970.

1976 - The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ran its first Metrorail passenger train.

Births

1790 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States of America (1841-1845).

1835 - Elihu Thomson, English-born American inventor of electric welding and arc lighting.

1867 - Cy (Denton True) Young, baseball pitcher with most career wins to date.

1888 - James E. Casey, American, founder of the United Parcel Service.

1918 - Pearl Bailey, American singer, actress.

Deaths

1957 - Joyce Cary, Irish-born English novelist.