TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, FEB. 27, the 58th day of 2021. There are 307 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties. In 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of women to vote. In 1939, the Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., effectively outlawed sit-down strikes. In 1942, the Battle of the Java Sea began during World War II; Imperial Japanese naval forces scored a decisive victory over the Allies. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified. In 1968, at the conclusion of a CBS News special report on the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite delivered a commentary in which he said the conflict appeared “mired in stalemate.” In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until the following May.) In 1982, Wayne Williams was found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young Blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period. (Williams, who was also blamed for 22 other deaths, has maintained his innocence.) In 1991, Operation Desert Storm came to a conclusion as President George H.W. Bush declared that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time. In 1998, with the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by giving a monarch’s firstborn daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son. In 2003, children’s television host Fred Rogers died in Pittsburgh at age 74. In 2015, actor Leonard Nimoy, 83, world famous to “Star Trek” fans as the pointyeared, purely logical science officer Mr. Spock, died in Los Angeles. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Joanne Woodward is 91. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 87. Actor Barbara Babcock is 84. Actor Howard Hesseman is 81. Rock singer-musician Neal Schon (Journey) is 67. Rock musician Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and actor Timothy Spall are 64. Rock musician Leon Mobley (Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals) and Basketball Hall-of-Famer James Worthy are 60. Actors Adam Baldwin and Grant Show are 59. Actor Noah Emmerich is 56. Actor Donal Logue is 55. R&B singer Chilli (TLC) is 50. Chelsea Clinton, actor Brandon Beemer, and R&B singer Bobby V are 41. Singer Josh Groban and banjoist Noam Pikelny are 40. Rock musician Jared Champion (Cage the Elephant) and actor Kate Mara are 38. TV personality JWoww (AKA Jenni Farley) is 35. Actor Lindsey Morgan is 31.