#Middlebury
On March 23, 1839, the initials “O.K.” are first published, in The Boston Morning Post. Meant as an abbreviation for “oll korrect,” a popular slang misspelling of “all correct” at the time, OK steadily made its way into the everyday speech of Americans.- On March 26, 1920, “This Side of Paradise” is published, immediately launching 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune. While in Europe, Fitzgerald finished his masterpiece, “The Great Gatsby” (1925).
- On March 25, 1933, the newly commissioned USS Sequoia becomes the official presidential yacht. Previously, the Department of Commerce had used the Sequoia as a decoy to catch Prohibition lawbreakers.
- On March 22, 1947, President Harry Truman establishes a sweeping loyalty investigation of federal employees in response to public fears of communism in the U.S. Congress had already launched investigations of communist influence in Hollywood.
- On March 28, 1958, William Christopher Handy, the famous blues musician known as W.C., dies in New York City. Jazz standards “The Memphis Blues” and “St. Louis Blues” are his most famous compositions, but his musical legacy can be heard in works of composers as varied as George Gershwin and Keith Richards.
- On March 27, 1973, actor Marlon Brando declines the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “The Godfather” as a protest against Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in film. The first performer to turn down a Best Actor Oscar was George C. Scott, for “Patton” in 1971.
- On March 24, 1989, one of the worst oil spills in U.S. territory begins when the supertanker Exxon Valdez, owned and operated by the Exxon Corporation, runs aground on a reef in Prince William Sound in southern Alaska. An estimated 11 million gallons of oil eventually spilled into the water, polluting more than 700 miles of coastline.
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