TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, FEB. 25, the 56th day of 2021. There are 309 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the aftermath of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency. In 1793, President George Washington held the first Cabinet meeting on record at his Mount Vernon home; attending were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. In 1901, United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox. In 1919, Oregon became the first state to tax gasoline, at 1 cent per gallon. In 1950, “Your Show of Shows,” starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, debuted on NBC-TV. In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser became Egypt’s prime minister after the country’s president, Mohammed Naguib, was effectively ousted in a coup. In 1964, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing champion as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. In 1983, playwright Tennessee Williams was found dead in his New York hotel suite; he was 71. In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In 1994, American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers. In 2010, in Vancouver, the Canadian women beat the United States 2-0 for their third straight Olympic hockey title. In 2018, China’s official news agency said the country’s ruling Communist Party had proposed scrapping term limits for China’s president, appearing to lay the groundwork for Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023. (China’s rubber-stamp lawmakers approved that change on March 11.) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Ann McCrea is 90. Actor Tom Courtenay and former CBS newsman Bob Schieffer are 84. Actor Diane Baker is 83. Actor Karen Grassle and former talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael are 79. Former professional wrestler Ric Flair and humorist Jack Handey are 72. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 64. Comedian Carrot Top, and model and actor Veronica Webb are 56. Actors Alexis Denisof and Tea Leoni are 55. Actor Sean Astin and singer Daniel Powter are 50. R&B singer Justin Jeffre and actor Anson Mount are 48. Comedian-actor Chelsea Handler is 46. Actor Rashida Jones is 45. Actors Justin Berfield, Jameela Jamil, and James and Oliver Phelps (“Harry Potter” movies) are 35. Rock musician Erik Haager (Carolina Liar) is 34.