Today in history: Mar. 18
The NBA said it was easing some of its health and safety protocols for individuals who were fully vaccinated.
1922: Mohandas K. Gandhi
In 1922, Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years’ imprisonment for civil disobedience. (He was released after serving two years.)
1940: Benito Mussolini
On March 18, 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany’s war against France and Britain.
1942: Milton S. Eisenhower
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which was put in charge of interning Japanese-Americans, with Milton S. Eisenhower (the younger brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower) as its director.
1965: Alexei Leonov
In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov went outside his Voskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether.
2012: Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney scored an overwhelming win in Puerto Rico’s Republican presidential primary, trouncing chief rival Rick Santorum.
2016: Salah Abdeslam
In 2016, police in Brussels captured Europe’s most wanted fugitive, Salah Abdeslam, who was the prime suspect in the deadly 2015 Paris attacks.
2017: Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry, rock ’n’ roll’s founding guitar hero and storyteller who defined the music’s joy and rebellion in such classics as “Johnny B. Goode,” “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Roll Over Beethoven,” died at his home west of St. Louis at age 90.
2018: Vladimir Putin
In 2018, Vladimir Putin rolled to a crushing reelection victory for six more years as Russia’s president.
2021: NBA
The NBA said it was easing some of its health and safety protocols for individuals who were fully vaccinated.