From Historynet: Today in History March 25

708             Constantine  begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

1634          Lord Baltimore  founds the Catholic colony of Maryland.

1655          Puritans jail Governor Stone  after a military victory over Catholic forces in the colony of Maryland.

1668          The first horse race in America takes place.

1776          The Continental Congress authorizes a medal for General George Washington .

1807          British Parliament abolishes the slave trade.

1813          The frigate USS Essex flies the first U.S. flag in battle in the Pacific.

1865          Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman, during the siege of Petersburg, Va.

1879          Japan invades the kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) Islands, formerly a vassal of China.

1905          Rebel battle flags that were captured during the American Civil War are returned to the South.

1911          A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, a sweatshop in New York City, claims the lives of 146 workers.

1915          The first submarine disaster occurs when a U.S. F-4 sinks off the Hawaiian coast.

1919          The Paris Peace Commission adopts a plan to protect nations from the influx of foreign labor.

1931          Fifty people are killed in riots that break out in India. 

Mahatma Gandhi  was one of many people assaulted.

1940          The United States agrees to give Britain and France access to all American warplanes.

1941          Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers.

1953          The USS Missouri fires on targets at Kojo, North Korea, the last time her guns fire until the Persian Gulf War of 1992.

1954          RCA manufactures its first color TV set and begins mass production.

1957          The European Common Market Treaty is signed in Rome. The goal is to create a common market for all products--especially coal and steel.

1965          Martin Luther King Jr.  leads a group of 25,000 to the state capital in Montgomery, Ala.

1969          John Lennon and Yoko Ono  stage a bed-in for peace in Amsterdam.

1970          The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight.

1975          Hue is lost and Da Nang is endangered by North Vietnamese forces. The United States orders a refugee airlift to remove those in danger.

1981          The U.S. Embassy in San Salvador is damaged when gunmen attack, firing rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.

1986          President Ronald Reagan  orders emergency aid for the Honduran army. U.S. helicopters take Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border.