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The Original Undo Button
 March 30, 1858 - Hymen Lipman received a patent for a pencil with an attached eraser. Lipman later sold the patent to Joseph Reckendorfer for $100,000, who then filed a lawsuit against pencil manufacturer Faber for patent infringement. However, Reckendorfer's lawsuit, and investment, failed when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the patent to be invalid because it simply combined two already known things and had no new use. You can view the original patent here.
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Seward's Folly?
March 30, 1867 - A treaty to purchase the Alaska Territory from Russia for $7.2 million was entered into by U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and Russian Minister Eduard de Stoeckl. The purchase allowed the United States to acquire the resource-rich territory for a mere two cents per acre; however, the value of Alaska and its resources would not be discovered until the Klondike gold strike of 1896. Until then critics of the purchase argued that the United States already had too much unmanageable territory. Many members of the Senate even referred to the purchase as "Seward's Folly" and delayed ratification of the treaty. The Alaskan purchase was completed on October 18, 1867, when the Russian military officially handed over possession of the territory to the American military at a ceremony in what is now Sitka, Alaska. The $7.2 million check used to pay for the purchase can be viewed here.
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Foiled Assassination
March 30, 1981 - President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest outside the Washington Hilton Hotel by would-be-assassin John Hinckley, Jr. As soon as the shots were fired Secret Service agents pushed Reagan into the waiting Presidential limousine and covered his body with their own. As Hinckley was restrained and the limousine began speeding toward the White House the initial assessment was that President Reagan may have broken a rib when the Secret Service agents landed on him. Special Agent in Charge Jerry Parr ordered the limousine be redirected to nearby George Washington University Hospital. It was not until the President was being treated in the emergency room that the gun shot wound under his left arm was discovered. Subsequent investigations revealed that all six shots fired by Hinckley missed the President, but the sixth shot ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and struck the President in the side, piercing his left lung and stopping an inch from his heart. Three other people were injured in the attack, including Reagan's Press Secretary James Brady, a D.C. Police Officer and a Secret Service agent who placed his body in front of the President to make himself a target. Hinckley's motivation for shooting the President was not political. Rather, Hinckley had become obsessed with actress Jodie Foster after watching the 1976 film Taxi Driver and believed that he could win her attention if he became a national figure. Hinckley was charged with attempted murder but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He has remained institutionalized ever since. Video footage of the assassination attempt can be seen here.
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