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more events on March 9
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1986
Navy divers find the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.
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1975
Iraq launches an offensive against the rebellious Kurds.
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1968
General William Westmoreland asks for 206,000 more troops in Vietnam.
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1967
Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin‘s daughter defects to the United States.
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1964
The first Ford Mustang rolls off the Ford assembly line.
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1959
The Barbie doll is unveiled at a toy fair in New York City.
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1957
Egyptian leader Nasser bars U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
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1956
British authorities arrest and deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus. He is accused of supporting terrorists.
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1947
Keri Hulme, New Zealand novelist (The Bone People).
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1943
Bobby Fischer, first American world chess champion.
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1940
Britain frees captured Italian coal ships on the eve of German Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop’s visit to Rome.
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1939
Czech President Emil Hacha ousts pro-German Joseph Tiso as the Premier of Slovakia in order to preserve Czech unity.
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1936
The German press warns that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections will be arrested.
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1934
Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, the first man to orbit the Earth.
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1932
Eamon De Valera is elected president of the Irish Free State and pledges to abolish all loyalty to the British Crown.