By The Associated Press
                      - Today is Monday, March 15, the 74th day of 1999. There are 291 days
                        left in the year.

                      - On March 15, 1919, the American Legion was founded, in Paris.
                      - In 44 B.C., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a
                        group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.
                      - In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his
                        first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
                      - In 1820, Maine became the 23rd state.
                      - In 1875, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, John McCloskey,
                        was named the first American cardinal, by Pope Pius IX.
                      - In 1913, President Wilson held the first open presidential news
                        conference.
                      - In 1956, the Lerner and Loewe musical "My Fair Lady" opened on
                        Broadway.
                      - In 1964, actress Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in
                        Montreal; it was her fifth marriage, his second.
                      - In 1965, addressing a joint session of Congress, President Johnson
                        called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to
                        vote.
                      - In 1975, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis died near Paris at
                        age 69.
                      - Ten years ago: Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev convened a
                        two-day meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee to decide
                        on agricultural reforms.
                      - Five years ago: Illinois Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of
                        the House Ways and Means Committee, defeated four Democratic primary
                        challengers in his bid for re-election.
                      - One year ago: CBS' "60 Minutes" aired an interview with former White
                        House employee Kathleen Willey, who said President Clinton had made
                        unwelcome sexual advances toward her in the Oval Office in 1993, a
                        charge denied by the president. Dr. Benjamin Spock, whose child care
                        guidance spanned half a century, died in San Diego at 94.

                      *Happy Birthday*
                      ----------------
                      - Country singer Carl Smith is 72.
                      - Former astronaut Alan L. Bean is 67.
                      - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 66.
                      - Jazz musician Cecil Taylor is 66.
                      - Actor Judd Hirsch is 64.
                      - Rock musician Phil Lesh (The Grateful Dead) is 59.
                      - Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 58.
                      - Rock singer-musician Sly Stone Stewart is 55.
                      - Actor Craig Wasson is 45.
                      - Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 44.
                      - Actress Park Overall is 42.
                      - Movie director Renny Harlin is 40.
                      - Model Fabio is 38.
                      - Singer Terence Trent D'Arby is 37.