On this day, March 17, in 2003, Dwight Watson drove a tractor he said was full of explosives into a pond on the National Mall, bringing much of downtown D.C. to a standstill for two days.

Watson, a fifth-generation tobacco farmer from Whitakers, N.C., said he wanted to bring attention to the plight of farmers whose livelihoods were in peril because of government policies. He also wanted to warn the public about the danger of pesticides.

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