March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). There are 282 days remaining.
- 1603 - James I becomes King of England.
- 1765 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the 13 American colonies to house British troops.
- 1832 - In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..
- 1868 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is formed.
- 1878 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
- 1882 - Robert Koch announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).
- 1898 - Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that was advertised in Scientific American.
- 1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
- 1944 - Tragedy in the Polish village Markowa.
- 1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin to break out of Stalag Luft III.
- 1965 - NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brought images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash-landing.
- 1972 - The United Kingdom imposes "Direct Rule" over Northern Ireland.
- 1973 - Kenyan track runner Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, sanctioned by the International Track Association .
- 1973 - Rock band Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon, which will go on to become one of the most influential and commercially successful albums of all-time.
- 1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón.
- 1980 - Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
- 1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of oil after running aground.
- 1998 - Jonesboro massacre: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys (aged 11 and 13 years) fire upon students at Westside Middle School. Four students and one teacher are killed and 10 injured.
- 1999 - Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia. This marks the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
- 2001 - Apple Computer releases Mac OS X version 10.0.
- 2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of US and British soldiers from Iraq.
- 2005 - Lord's Memorial of Jehovah's Witnesses - meeting for celebrating Jesus' death after sunset. (Based on the Jewdian calender. Date was Nisan 14. Not always on same Gregorian calendar date.)
- 1494 - Georg Agricola, scientist ("The Father of Mineralogy") (d. 1555)
- 1607 - Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Dutch Admiral (d. 1667)
- 1657 - Arai Hakuseki, Japanese Confucianist, poet, politician, and writer (d. 1725)
- 1693 - John Harrison, British inventor of the world's first successful maritime clock (d. 1776)
- 1834 - William Morris, writer, designer, socialist (d. 1896)
- 1834 - John Wesley Powell, explorer, environmentalist, (d. 1902)
- 1835 - Jožef Stefan, Slovene physicist, mathematician and poet, (d. 1893)
- 1855 - Andrew Mellon, financier, (d. 1937)
- 1855 - Olive Schreiner, writer (d. 1920)
- 1874 - Harry Houdini, magician, (d. 1926)
- 1886 - Edward Weston, photographer (d. 1958)
- 1887 - Fatty Arbuckle, actor, (d. 1933)
- 1889 - Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)
- 1891 - John Knittel , dramatist, (d. 1970)
- 1893 - Walter Baade, astronomer (d. 1960)
- 1897 - Wilhelm Reich, psychotherapist, (d. 1957)
- 1901 - Ub Iwerks, cartoonist, (d. 1971)
- 1902 - Thomas Dewey, politician, (d. 1971)
- 1910 - Richard Conte, American actor (d. 1975)
- 1911 - Joseph Barbera, cartoonist
- 1915 - Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler (d. 1963)
- 1919 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, author and publisher
- 1923 - Kermit Schafer , humorist, (d. 1979)
- 1923 - Murray Hamilton , American actor (d. 1986)
- 1924 - Norman Fell, actor (d. 1998)
- 1926 - Dario Fo, author, 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature
- 1927 - Martin Walser, author
- 1928 - Byron Janis, American pianist
- 1930 - Steve McQueen, film director and producer, (d. 1980)
- 1935 - Peter Bichsel, writer
- 1936 - David Suzuki, environmentalist
- 1937 - Billy Stewart , American singer (d. 1970)
- 1938 - David Irving, British historian
- 1940 - Bob Mackie , costume designer
- 1944 - R. Lee Ermey, American actor
- 1945 - Curtis Hanson, American film director
- 1945 - Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist
- 1949 - Nick Lowe, musician
- 1951 - Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer
- 1953 - Louie Anderson, American comedian
- 1954 - Robert Carradine, actor
- 1954 - Donna Pescow, American actress
- 1960 - Rick Ruhl , MSN's first online manager, 1994-1999
- 1962 - Star Jones Reynolds, American television personality
- 1964 - Annabella Sciorra, American actress
- 1965 - The Undertaker, professional wrestler
- 1970 - Lara Flynn Boyle, actress
- 1970 - Sharon Corr, musician ("The Corrs")
- 1974 - Alyson Hannigan, actress
- 1976 - Peyton Manning, NFL star
- 1990 - Keisha Castle-Hughes, actress
- 809 - Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (b. 763)
- 1455 - Pope Nicholas V, the first Renaissance pope (b. 1397)
- 1603 - Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
- 1869 - Antoine-Henri Jomini, General (b. 1779)
- 1882 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author (b. 1807)
- 1905 - Jules Verne, author (b. 1828)
- 1909 - John Millington Synge, playwright (b. 1871)
- 1944 - Orde Wingate, British soldier (b. 1903)
- 1946 - Alexander Alekhine, chess champion (b. 1892)
- 1950 - James Rudolph Garfield, U.S. politician (b. 1865)
- 1953 - Mary of Teck, wife of King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
- 1962 - Jean Goldkette, jazz musician (b. 1899)
- 1962 - Auguste Piccard, physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
- 1972 - Cristobal Balenciaga, couturier
- 1976 - Bernard Montgomery, British Field Marshal (b. 1887)
- 1980 - Óscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador (b. 1917)
- 1984 - Sam Jaffe, actor (b. 1891)
- 1990 - An Wang, computer pioneer (b. 1920)
- 1990 - Ray Goulding, American comedian
- 1993 - John Hersey, author (b. 1914)
- 1999 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German Women's leader during Germany's Third Reich. (b. 1902)
- 1999 - Birdie Tebbetts, Major League Baseball catcher and manager (b. 1912)
- 1999 - NATO Bombings began against Yugoslav Army and ParaMilitary groups which killed and massacred Albanian People in Kosova
- 2003 - Hans Hermann Groër, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (1986 - 1995)
Holidays and observances
March 23 - March 25 - February 24 - April 24 -- listing of all days
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