TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2009

Today is Tuesday, March 31, the 90th day of 2009. There are 275 days left in the year.

1657 _ English Humble Petition offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown

1814 _ Forces allied against Napoleon capture Paris France

1889 _ 300-meter Eiffel Tower officially opens (commemorates French Revolution)

1909 _ Gustav Mahler conducts New York Philharmonic for his first time

1921 _ Albert Einstein lectures in New York on his new theory of relativity

1945 _ Tennessee Williams' ``Glass Menagerie" premieres in New York City

1965 _ U.S. ordered the first combat troops to Vietnam

1967 _ Jimi Hendrix begins his tradition of burning his guitar

1980 _ President Jimmy Carter deregulates banking industry

1991 _ Soviet Republic of Georgia endorsed independence; Warsaw Pact dissolves