Deaths on March 24

Jean Goldkette, French-American pianist and bandleader (b. 1899)

John Jean Goldkette (March 18, 1893 – March 24, 1962) was a jazz pianist and bandleader.

5 Feb

Charles de Gaulle
French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
5 Aug

Nelson Mandela
Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
15 Sep

Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
18 Sep

Jamaica
Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations.
27 Oct

Cuban Missile Crisis
Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down over Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.