1546        Mar 29, Cardinal Beaton, English archbishop of St. Andrews, was murdered.

1722        Mar 29, Emanuel Swedenborg (b.1688), Swedish scientist and clairvoyant, died in London. In 1744 he entered into a spiritual phase in which he experienced dreams and visions. The foundation of Swedenborg’s theology was laid down in “Arcana Cœlestia” (Heavenly Secrets), published in eight volumes from 1749 to 1756.

1806        Mar 29, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the National Road, the first federally financed interstate. Although it took decades to finish, the National Road helped open the land west of the Appalachians to settlers and commerce. It was later lengthened, paved and renamed U.S. 40, but was eclipsed in the 1960s by Interstate 70, a parallel superhighway

1848        Mar 29, John Jacob Astor (b.1763), America’s richest man, died. The fur and real estate magnate had a value in 1999 dollars totaled $78 billion. In 2001 Axel Madsen authored “John Jacob Astor: America’s First Multimillionaire.

1951        Mar 29, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed in June 1953. Morton Sobell was convicted of conspiracy in the case and served 18 ½ years in prison. Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton later wrote “The Rosenberg File.”

1961        Mar 29, In South Africa Nelson Mandela was acquitted on a treason charge after a 4 year trial.

1962        Mar 29, Jack Paar hosted NBC’s “Tonight” show for the final time. He was succeeded by Johnny Carson who stayed to 1992.

1966        Mar 29, Leonid Brezhnev became First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. He denounced the American policy in Vietnam and called it one of aggression.

1975        Mar 29, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat declared that he would reopen the Suez Canal on June 5, 1975.

1981        Mar 29, General Roberto Eduardo Viola was sworn in as the President of Argentina.

1988        Mar 29, Sen. Bob Dole ended his presidential candidacy. Michael Dukakis won the Connecticut Democratic primary.

1994        Mar 29, Bill Travers (72), British actor (Trio, Gorgo, Born Free), died.

1996        Mar 29 Congress passed, and President Clinton quickly signed, a 12th stopgap spending bill to avert a partial federal shutdown.

1997        Mar 29, Vice President Gore concluded his tour of Asia, saying that talks in Beijing had created “new momentum” in relations between the U.S. and China.

2000        Mar 29, President Clinton told a news conference he was appalled when he first learned his campaign had taken illegal foreign donations in 1996 — contributions he called both wrong and unneeded.

2000        Mar 29, In Thailand Sanan Kachornprasart (64) resigned as interior minister after the National Counter-Corruption Commission charged that he had concealed his assets in a fabricated million-dollar loan.

2001        Mar 29, Pres. Bush met with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who disagreed with Bush’s opposition to the 1997 Kyoto global-warming accord. It was later revealed that the 2 men agreed to withhold aid for Russia until corruption ceased.

2003        Mar 29, Pres. Bush sought to marshal the nation’s resolve to withstand more casualties, saying further sacrifice must be expected.

2004        Mar 29, Pres. Bush hosted a White House ceremony to welcome Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.

2004        Mar 29, In Mexico Pres. Fox unveiled a sweeping revision of the legal system.

2006        Mar 29, Henry Farrell, a writer born as Charles Farrell Myers (1920), died in Los Angeles. His melodramatic thrillers spurred a genre of horror movies that included “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte.”

2006        Mar 29, Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, accused of war crimes, was flown to Sierra Leone after he was captured in northern Nigeria.

2007        Mar 29, Kyle Sampson, a former senior aide to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, directly implicated him in a scandal over the sacking of eight federal prosecutors, saying he had approved the dismissals.

2007        Mar 29, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker was sworn in as the new top US envoy to Iraq, saying he was taking over the “most critical foreign policy mission” facing his country. Iraq’s government admitted that police were behind the vengeful slaughter of at least 70 Sunni Arabs in Tal Afar. 2 suicide attackers wearing explosives blew themselves up in the Shalal market, which was crowded with shoppers seeking provisions on the eve of the Muslim day of rest and prayer. At least 82 people were killed and 102 were wounded. At least 181 people were killed or found dead as Sunni insurgents apparently stepped up their campaign of bombings to derail the seven-week-old security sweep in Baghdad. A US soldier was killed and another was wounded during a patrol in southern Baghdad.

2009        Mar 29, In North Carolina Robert Stewart (45) went on a terrifying rampage in the Pinelake Health and Rehab center, killing seven residents and a nurse and wounding three other people. He was stopped by a single shot to the chest fired by Justin Garner, a decorated police officer responding to a 911 call. Stewart survived and was charged with 8 counts of 1st degree murder. In 2011 Stewart was convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced from 141 to 177 years in prison.

2009        Mar 29, Sudan’s Pres. Omar al-Bashir, who is sought by an international court on charges of war crimes in Darfur, received a warm welcome in Qatar, where he will attend this week’s Arab League summit.

2010        Mar 29, US Federal officials awarded Tennessee and Delaware $600 million in grants to improve failing schools as part of Pres. Obama’s $4 billion fund for education innovation and reform. Delaware won as much as $107 million. Tennessee could get $502 million.

2011        Mar 29, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has signed a law that guarantees grandparents the right to visit their grandchildren when the parents are divorced. The presidential approval was published today in the official gazette.

2011        Mar 29, Jose Alencar (b.1931), former Brazilian Vice President (2002-2010) died after a long battle with abdominal cancer.

2011        Mar 28, In Dubai Alain Robert, a French skyscraper climber, scaled the Burj Khalifa in just over 6 hours.

2014        Mar 29, Sri Lanka held local elections. The ruling party won local elections, but with smaller than expected margins in a crucial mid-term test for President Mahinda Rajapakse.