On This Day - March 3, 2026

For the first time, Congress overrides a presidential veto. Outgoing President John Tyler vetoed an appropriations bill from Congress. It wasn't Tyler's first use of his veto powers. At the time, only one other president use the veto more and that was Andrew Jackson. (Since then, presidents have found their veto stride.) On the last day of the Congressional session, Congress used its power to override the veto for the first time.

After graduating from law school in 1873, Belva Lockwood lobbied to be admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar. It wasn’t until March 3, 1879, that she would become the first woman admitted to appear before the Supreme Court.

Time Magazines publishes its first issue.

President Herbert Hoover signs a Congressional resolution making the "Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem of the United States. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order designating the song written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 as the country's national song and the U.S. Navy had long honored the song.