It Happened on March 31 Quiz | Famous Dates

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Eiffel Tower, one of Europe's most popular tourist attractions, opened on March 31, 1889. What building surpassed it as the world's tallest man-made structure?

Answer: Chrysler Building

Stretching 984 feet into the sky, the Eiffel Tower reigned supreme in terms of height for over four decades. But the Chrysler Building, an art deco masterpiece, surpassed it in 1930, topping out at 1,046 feet. The Empire State Building went one better the next year, topping out at 1,250 feet. Neither the Woolworth Building (792 feet) nor the Flatiron Building (285 feet) challenge the Eiffel Tower in terms of height.

2. March 31, 1918, marked the first time that the United States observed Daylight Saving Time. When the rules regarding Daylight Saving Time were standardized under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, control of the time-zone boundaries was transferred from Congress to which Cabinet-level department?

Answer: Transportation

In the United States, time is managed by three different organizations. The Department of Transportation, created by an act of Congress in October, 1966, is responsible for managing the time-zone boundaries. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (an agency of the Department of Commerce) and the US Naval Observatory (part of the Department of Defense) are jointly responsible for keeping the official time for the country.

3. On March 31, 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry helped broker a treaty that allowed trade with which nation?

Answer: Japan

The younger brother of another American naval hero, Oliver Hazard Perry, Matthew Calbraith Perry was sent under orders from President Fillmore to open up trade with Japan. The Treaty of Kanagawa, signed by Perry and approved by members of the Tokugawa Shogunate, helped spur trade with the hitherto isolationist nation.

4. On March 31, 1998, what major financial services company made national headlines by dismissing two executives for transmitting racy content via that company's email system?

Answer: Salomon Smith Barney

Many companies have policies in place to govern the use of eletronic communications such as email. That includes monitoring transmissions to ensure that inappropriate materials, such as trade secrets or pornographic pictures, are not being sent to employees and to outside clients.

5. On March 31, 1931, the legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne was killed in a plane crash. Where was Rockne heading when he was killed?

Answer: Los Angeles

Rockne, along with five other passengers and the two pilots, perished when their aircraft encountered mechanical problems en route from Kansas City to Los Angeles. The plane fell into a field in the city of Bazaar, Kansas, between Emporia and Wichita. Rockne was just 43 at the time of his death.

6. On March 31, 1943, the musical play "Oklahoma!" opened at the St James Theater on Broadway. Which of the following statements about that successful play is *false*?

Answer: Richard Rodgers collaborated with Lorenz Hart to create "Oklahoma!"

According to musicals101.com and The Shubert Theater website (www.shubert.com), "Oklahoma!" was Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's attempt to convert Lynn Riggs's unsuccessful play, "Green Grow the Lilacs", into a musical play. Initially, Rodgers had asked Larenz Hart, with whom he had done much Broadway work with in the past, to work with him on "Away We Go".

But Hart, who had succumbed to alcoholism, encouraged Rodgers to work with Hammerstein. Their songs, combined with the choreography of Agnes DeMille, sparked a wildly successful run for the show, lasting 2,212 performances on Broadway and 1,548 at the Theatre Royal in London.

7. On March 31, 1986, the Louisville Cardinals beat the Duke Blue Devils 72-69 to win the NCAA Men's National Basketball Championship. In what city did that year's Final Four take place?

Answer: Dallas

Reunion Arena, former home of the Dallas Mavericks, was the site of the 1986 Final Four. Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, was ranked first in the Associated Press poll at the end of the season, before the tournaments. But Louisville, led by center Pervis Ellison, helped earn coach Denny Crum his second national title.

8. On March 31, 1930, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) adopted the Production Code, which set down strict moral guidelines for the movie industry. The man who first oversaw the code, Will H. Hays, had previously been Postmaster General during which president's administration?

Answer: Warren Harding

The MPPDA adopted the Production Code as a preemptive move to prevent Congress from censoring the movies. The studios, however, were not required to adhere to the code, making its enforcement next to impossible. In 1966, the Production Code was tossed out by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in favor of the ratings system we're familiar with today.

9. On March 31, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson shocked everyone by announcing that he would not seek a second full term of office. Who ended up running with Johnson's vice-president, Hubert Humphrey, on the Democratic ticket that year?

Answer: Edmund Muskie

Edmund Muskie helped build the Democratic Party in Maine, and served one term as governor (1954-58) before winning election to the US Senate. During his fourth term, he resigned his seat to become President Carter's second Secretary of State. Muskie died on March 26, 1996, just two days short of his 82nd birthday.

10. As I mentioned in the introduction to this quiz, I was born on March 31. And that leads to my final question: Which of the following celebrities does NOT share my date of birth?

Answer: Queen Latifah

Singer and actress Queen Latifah is 13 days older than I am. She was born on March 18, 1970. And, for good measure, I'm 13 days older than actor Rick Schroder. He was born on April 13, 1970. World-class poker player Gabe Kaplan (of "Welcome Back, Kotter" fame), was born in 1945. Rhea Perlman, who played Carla on "Cheers", was born in 1948. And Christopher Walken, who played dad to Leonardo DiCaprio in "Catch Me If You Can", was born in 1943.

Numerous sources were used for this quiz, including "Wikipedia", "The World Almanac and Book of Facts", "The ESPN Sports Almanac", "coolquiz.com" and "The Internet Movie Database".

Source: Author cag1970

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

It Happened on March 31 Trivia Quiz

March 31 happens to be my birthday, and to celebrate, here's a quiz devoted to events, historic and otherwise, that happened on that date.

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