On this day: March 11

POSTED: 09:10 AM PST Mar 05, 2013    UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT Mar 10, 2013 

Spanish Influenza breaks out, Janet Reno is confirmed as the first female attorney general, and a massive earthquake and tsunami cripple Japan, all on this day.

OTD March 11 - Richard Byrd
18 / 42
Library of Congress

1957: Adm. Richard E. Byrd, the aviator and explorer who claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach the North Pole and the South Pole by air, dies of a heart ailment at the age of 68 in Boston, Mass. While there is some doubt about his North Pole claim, his South Pole claim is generally supported by a consensus of those who have examined the evidence.

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