On this date
In 1854,
U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan; within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese.
In 1917,
Russia’s “February Revolution” (referring to the Old Style calendar) began; the result was the abdication of the Russian monarchy in favor of a provisional government, which was overthrown later the same year by the Bolsheviks.
In 1948,
the Supreme Court, in McCollum vs. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
In 1979,
technology firm Philips demonstrated a prototype compact disc player during a news conference in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
In 1983,
in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Fla., President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”
In 1999,
baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Florida, at age 84.
In 2014,
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive search. (To date, the fate of the jetliner and its occupants has yet to be determined.)
Ten years ago:
President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.
Five years ago:
The government reported the jobless rate dropped to 7.7% the previous month, the lowest level since President Barack Obama took office.
One year ago:
Many American women stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red to demonstrate how vital they were to the U.S. economy, as International Women’s Day was observed with a multitude of events around the world, including the Day Without a Woman in the U.S.