MARCHING MADLY THROUGH MARCH

By Edwin Cooney

Believe it or not, it wasn't that long ago that we sanely made our way through March as it entered like a lion and went out like a lamb to feel April's showers and sniff April's flowers! Forty-two years ago, while broadcasting the NCAA 1982 college play-offs, CBS sports broadcaster Brent Musburger called the basketball playoffs "March madness” for the first time and we've celebrated March madness ever since.

Determined to understand our past, present and future, we look to two constellations, Pisces and Aries, to explain our significance to ourselves. After all, who was born, when they were born and when they died has to matter to us as a point of identity or pride, does it not?

If you were born in March, there were four presidents who share March birthdays with you. Andrew Jackson was born on March 15th, James Madison was born on March 16th, Grover Cleveland’s birthday was March 19th and John Tyler was born on March 29th. All of them were very forceful and determined men. As a general and a president and an Indian fighter, Andrew Jackson took pride in every order he issued whether it was to take all federal funds out of the Bank of the United States or to kick the Cherokee and Seminole Indians across the Mississippi into Oklahoma along its “Trail of Tears.” Grover Cleveland, although supposedly pro labor, called in forces to break up the 1894 Pullman Strike. John Tyler who was the first vice president to assume the presidency upon the death of a president, President William Henry Harrison, told the cabinet (according to Harry Truman) that  if they didn't recognize his claim to the presidential office, he'd "fire 'em." James Madison, as a delegate to the 1788 Constitutional Convention, took copious notes and engaged in numerous debates during that historic meeting of the minds. Oh, and in case you've quite forgotten, former Vice President Al Gore was born on Wednesday, March 31st, 1948.

Three American presidents died in March: Millard Fillmore on Thursday, March 8th, 1874, Benjamin Harrison on Wednesday, March 13th, 1901, and Dwight D. Eisenhower on Friday, March 28th, 1969.

On Monday, March 26th, 1979, President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the Israeli Egyptian peace treaty in Washington, D.C.

Just two days later on Wednesday,  March 28th, 1979, the breakdown of the cooling system of the nuclear plant on Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania occurred, nearly bringing about a major nuclear disaster.   

Perhaps the most unforgettable American Sunday night in March was that of March 31st, 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek nor would he accept the 1968 Democratic Party Presidential nomination.

Finally, it should be noted that every elected president between 1793 and 1933 was sworn into office on March 4th with two exceptions: the first was Zachary Taylor who took office on Monday, March 5th, 1849 because he regarded Sunday, March 4th, as a religious holiday.

(Note: There's an interesting and ironic story here. The president of the United States Senate back then was David Rice Atchison and he technically held the presidency between noon of March 4th when the Polk administration ended and the Zachary Taylor administration began at noon of March 5th. Atchison went to a party that Saturday night, March 3rd and slept through most of his term. It was perhaps all to the good as David Rice Atchison was one of the most violent proslavery men in the country. Several years later, he led proslavery raids from Missouri into Kansas during the era called "Bleeding Kansas.”) 

The second exception occurred when President Ulysses S. Grant had his successor Rutherford B. Hayes sworn in on Saturday night March 3rd, 1877 because he was fearful that Southern Democrats might try and swear in Samuel J. Tilden whom many believed had truly won the 1876 election over Hayes.  

As for our former Soviet cousins, Mikhail Gorbachev was born on Monday March 2nd, 1931, and Joseph Stalin died on Thursday, March 5th, 1953.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on Monday, March 21st, 1785. Darryl Strawberry was born on Monday, March 12th, 1962.

The 1964 Good Friday earthquake, which occurred in Alaska, measured 9.2 on the Richter scale. The tsunami it caused resulted in 131 lost lives. The date was March 27th.

Meanwhile, to write about March while ignoring St. Patrick's Day with the parades, the kissing of the Blarney Stone, and green beer would show a lack of ethnic appreciation, religiosity and a degree of sobriety that's downright demoralizing!

I'm just mad about March! Aren't you?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY