Revolutions
On March 8, 1917, the “February Revolution,” which saw the end of Czarist Russia with Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin at its forefront, resulted in the formation of the USSR. Though the USSR would prove a valuable “ally” in World War II, the divisive aftermath resulted in an international relations nightmare, as the world fell into two camps split over the control of Berlin. Unwillingness to back down between the East and West kept the sides needlessly separated by borders and culture, while the constant threat of mutual annihilation during the Cold War left the populace of both sides living in fear for 47 years.
Toys
At 11 inches tall, Mattel’s “Barbie” doll debuted on March 9, 1959, after Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, Inc. saw her daughter playing with paper cutouts of adult women as opposed to her baby dolls. From then on, Barbie would become an iconic American toy. Mattel has sold 800 million of the dolls since 1959. Though some considered Barbie to be breaking gender stereotypes by having a lot of different outfits and jobs over the years, her “perfect” body (36-18-38) and cascade of blonde hair set an unrealistic and harmful standard of beauty for girls.
Famous crimes
James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the assassination of famed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on March 10, 1969. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison in lieu of the electric chair. Three days later he attempted to withdraw the plea, claiming to be the patsy of a gunrunnning operation. Members of King’s family would come out in support of Ray’s innocence in the 1990s, speculating about assassination conspiracy theories. With the mountain of evidence against Ray, justice was served, and he remained guilty.
Hybrid moments
One million Toyota gas-electric hybrids had been sold in the U.S. by March 11, 2009, a hallmark in the effort to reduce carbon-based emissions from transport. That same week, Ford Motor Company reported production numbers of 100,000 hybrids in the U.S. Unfortunately for Toyota, a year later it would be in its current public relations crisis for some of those same hybrids because of safety issues. Prius, derived from the Latin “earlier,” was a car ahead of the game in 1997 and was a gamble in a time when dinosaur SUVs ruled the earth and gasoline was cheap.
Knighthoods
Sir Paul McCartney was knighted on March 11, 1997, by Queen Elizabeth II for his “services to music.” The knighting for the member of the most successful rock band in history was long overdue by Beatles fans’ standards because the crowds that gathered outside of Buckingham Palace were a modern-day repeat of “Beatle Mania.” Sir McCartney dedicated his knighthood to his fellow Beatles: George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon.
Gender equity
On March 12, 1776, in Baltimore, Md., a public notice appeared in local papers urging readers to recognize the contributions of women to the revolutionary war. This early urging of gender equity was a direct message to the writers of the Constitution to include rights for women. Women provided nursing and care for wounded soldiers, assented to boycotts and took over labor that was instrumental to the war. The women contributed as much as the men, and should have had the same freedoms in the drafting of the Constitution.
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