What Happened on March 12?

March 12 is when the Girl Scouts were born in Savannah in 1912, when Gandhi started walking 240 miles to break an unfair salt law in 1930, and when FDR chatted with America by radio in 1933!

• 1912 — First Girl Scouts troop founded in Savannah

  Juliette Gordon Low gathered 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia, to start the American Girl Guides — soon renamed Girl Scouts — launching an organization that now counts 50 million alumnae. Read the full story →

• 1930 — Gandhi begins the 240-mile Salt March

  Mahatma Gandhi set out from his ashram with 78 followers, walking toward the sea to make salt illegally — turning a kitchen ingredient into the world's most famous protest. Read the full story →

• 1933 — FDR delivers his first fireside chat

  Eight days into office, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sat down by the radio and calmly explained the banking crisis to America — inventing a new way for presidents to talk to citizens. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) · Liza Minnelli (1946) · James Taylor (1948) · Andrew Young (1932)

Days & observances

National Girl Scout Day · Plant a Flower Day