THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

Today is Thursday, March 13, the 72nd day of 2014. There are 293 days left in the year.

1519 ― Cortez lands in Mexico

1634 ― Academie Francaise opens

1639 ― Cambridge College renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard

1921 ― Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China

1954 ― Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu

1961 ― Pablo Picasso (79) marries his model Jacqueline Rocque (37)

1963 ― Indonesia and Netherlands recover diplomatic relations

1965 ― Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds

1979 ― European Monetary System is established, ECU created

1991 ― Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines and cleanup of Valdez oil spill (Prince William Sound, Alas.)