On this date
In 1933, the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers.
In 1942, the first Japanese-Americans evacuated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp in Manzanar, Calif. In 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic. In 1965, America’s first two-person space mission took place as Gemini 3 blasted off with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly fivehour flight.
In 1973, before sentencing a group of Watergate break-in defendants, Chief U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica read aloud a letter he’d received from James W. McCord Jr. which said there was “political pressure” to “plead guilty and remain silent.”
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan first proposed developing technology to intercept incoming enemy missiles — an idea that came to be known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars.”
In 2011, Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor died in Los Angeles at age 79.
Ten years ago: The House voted for the first time to clamp a cutoff deadline on the Iraq War, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by late 2008, an action dismissed by President George W. Bush as “political theater.” Five years ago: Urging Americans to “do some soul searching,” President Barack Obama injected himself into the emotional debate over the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, saying, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” One year ago: Death claimed former baseball player turned-broadcaster Joe Garagiola at age 90 and actor Ken Howard at age 71.