Today in history—March 9

1832: Illinois lawyer Abraham Lincoln announces his first run for public office. He will lose.

1841: The U.S. Supreme Court decides the Amistad case, holding that unlawfully enslaved persons have a right to resist by violence.

1918: Frank Morrison "Mickey" Spillane is born at Brooklyn, New York. At one point seven of the top ten best-selling American novels of the 20th century will be his.

1921: Actor Carl (Judd for the Defense) Betz is born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1933: The First Hundred Days of the New Deal kicks off, as Congress passes President Roosevelt's Emergency Banking Act.

1959: Mattel introduces the Barbie doll.

1964: The first Ford Mustang rolls off the production line.

1975: Construction begins on the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline.

1985: The home video version of Gone With The Wind goes on sale for the first time, at $89.95 a pop.

1989: Eastern Airlines goes bankrupt again.