March 11

March 11 is the 71st day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1861 to 2012 — a span of 151 years. The entry that anchors it: World War II, 1941.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1861, American Civil War — the Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

In the postwar nineteenth century the date tracks a nation rebuilding. In 1888, the Great Blizzard of 1888 struck the northeastern United States, producing snowdrifts in excess of 50 ft (15 m) and confining some people to their houses for up to a week. The same year, the Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1941, World War II — United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan. Four years on, in 1945, World War II — the Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1977, The 1977 Hanafi Siege — around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.

Closer to the present, the date is still accumulating. In 1993, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Janet Reno as the first female United States attorney general. Then, in 2012, U.S. Army soldier Robert Bales murdered sixteen civilians and wounded six others in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on March 11: Benjamin Tupper (1738), American general; John McLean (1785), American jurist and politician; Carl Ruggles (1876), American composer and painter; Harry H. Laughlin (1880), American eugenicist and sociologist; and Raoul Walsh (1887), American actor and director.

March 11 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Benjamin West (1820), American-English painter and academic; George McDuffie (1851), American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of South Carolina; Charles Sumner (1874), American lawyer and politician; and William Rosecrans (1898), American general and politician.

8 entries, 151 years, one square on the calendar. March 11 is a reminder that history is experienced as an ordinary day before it is remembered as a date.