On March 9

Twelve gunmen seized three buildings in Washington, D.C., and took 149 hostages in a 39-hour standoff that ended in two deaths.

Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, defected to the United States.

The popular fashion doll Barbie debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.

The Andreanof Islands earthquake struck Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, causing more than $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, soldiers suppressed mass demonstrations against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization.

Thirty-three people were killed in a human crush at Burnden Park, a football stadium in Bolton, England.

World War II: As part of the Battle of Narva, the Soviet Air Forces heavily bombed Tallinn, Estonia, killing up to 800 people, mostly civilians.

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt submitted the Emergency Banking Act to the United States Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.

Éamon de Valera (pictured), a dominant political figure in 20th-century Ireland, became President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

Former Royal Air Force officer Vivian Stranders (pictured) was convicted of industrial espionage by a French court.

The Royal Air Force began a bombardment and strafing campaign against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan, present-day Pakistan.

A seventeen-month-long strike, which at its peak involved 15,000 coal miners represented by the United Mine Workers across 65 mines, began in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Kaʻiulani (pictured) was appointed the heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

American Civil War: In the world's first battle between two ironclad warships, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia.

Mexican–American War: The Siege of Veracruz began, the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military forces.

Nabucco, an opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi that established his reputation, premiered at La Scala in Milan.

Awaking from a nap under a tree at Rancho San Francisco, Francisco López made the first popularly documented discovery of gold in California.

Scottish philosopher Adam Smith published his book The Wealth of Nations, the first classical treatise on political economy.

The first recorded use of the name of Lithuania appeared in Latin in the Annals of Quedlinburg, written in Saxony-Anhalt, present-day Germany.