March 11

1861 – The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted, taking effect on February 22, 1862.

1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.

1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.

1941 – President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies ‘on loan’.

1977 – The hostages held in Washington, D.C. by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.

1978 – 38 Israelis are killed and 71 wounded by 11 Fatah moslem terrorists – 9 of whom are later killed at a roadblock – when they hijack a bus traveling on the Israel Coastal Highway

1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making him the USSR’s last head of state.

2004 – Bombs set by al-Qaeda moslem terrorists simultaneously explode on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, killing 191, and wounding 2000 people

2012 – U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, murders 16 and wounds 6 more Afghan civilians in the villages of Balandi and Alkozai of the Panjwayi District near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He is later sentenced to life in prison without parole.

2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.