March 28, 1979 – At 4 AM, one of the worst accidents in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry began when a pressure valve in the Unit 2 reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania failed to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings and the unit’s fuel core began to overheat. Fears of a core meltdown that could release radiation and sicken area residents led to more than 100,000 people fleeing nearby towns. Slowly the reactor core cooled and no one outside the plant had exposure to adverse levels of radiation, but the incident greatly eroded the public’s faith in nuclear power.
March 29, 1973 – Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam and the government of North Vietnam frees many remaining American prisoners of war ending America’s direct intervention in the Vietnam conflict. The war between the North and South Vietnamese continued and civilian U. S. Defense Department employees remained in Saigon until the last Americans were airlifted out of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when the city fell to the communists.
March 30, 1981 – President Ronald Reagan survives an assassination attempt by John Hinckley after being shot in the left lung; his press secretary, James Brady suffers permanent brain damage after also being wounded.
March 31, 1968 – President Lyndon Johnson makes the surprise announcement that he will not seek reelection because of the Vietnam conflict.