Thomas Kelly's "The Fifteenth Amendment" is an 1870 print celebrating the passage of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On March 30, 1870, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, was adopted. Photo by Thomas Kelly/Library of Congress

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., chews on a pencil during a congressional hearing on July 29, 2010. On March 30, 1858, a U.S. patent was granted to Hymen Lipman for a pencil with an attached eraser. File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

John Hinckley Jr. is flanked by federal agents as he is driven away from court April 10, 1981. On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington hotel. UPI File Photo | License Photo

A voter casts a ballot in the Democratic presidential primary February 29 at the Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, S.C. On March 30, 1870, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, was adopted into the U.S. Constitution. File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo

March 30 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1842, Dr. Crawford Long became the first physician to use anesthetic (ether) in surgery.


In 1858, a U.S. patent was granted to Hymen Lipman for a pencil with an attached eraser.

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward reached an agreement with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million in gold.

In 1870, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, was adopted into the U.S. Constitution.

In 1923, the Cunard liner Laconia arrived in New York City, the first passenger ship to circumnavigate the world. The cruise lasted 130 days.

In 1975, the South Vietnamese city of Da Nang fell to North Vietnamese forces. UPI correspondent Paul Vogle described "the flight out of hell" as refugees attempted to flee the city.

In 1981, On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot and injured U.S. President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington hotel. White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a Washington police officer also sustained injuries. Hinckley was released from a psychiatric hospital in September 2016.

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In 1999, a jury in Oregon awarded $81 million in damages to the family of a smoker who died from lung cancer. A state judge reduced the punitive portion to $32 million.

In 2006, Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, was freed in Baghdad after being held for 82 days by kidnappers.

In 2018, at least a dozen Palestinians died in the first week of the so-called Great March of Return protests in Gaza. More than 180 people died in the nearly weekly protests through the end of 2019.

In 2019, Slovakia elected its first female president, liberal lawyer Zuzana Caputova.