Also on this date
In 1798,
a feud between two members of the U.S. House of Representatives (meeting in Philadelphia) boiled over as Roger Griswold of Connecticut used a cane to attack Vermont’s Matthew Lyon, who defended himself with a set of tongs. (Griswold was enraged over the House’s refusal to expel Lyon for spitting tobacco juice in his face two weeks earlier; after the two men were separated, a motion to expel them both was defeated.)
In 1879,
President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
In 1898,
the U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the United States closer to war with Spain.
In 1933,
President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt in Miami that mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak; gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed more than four weeks later.
In 1944,
Allied bombers destroyed the monastery atop Monte Cassino in Italy.
In 1989,
the Soviet Union announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan, after more than nine years of military intervention.
In 2018,
the last of the bodies of the 17 victims of a school shooting in Florida were removed from the building after authorities analyzed the crime scene; 13 wounded survivors were still hospitalized.
Ten years ago:
Protesters swarmed Wisconsin’s capitol after Gov. Scott Walker proposed cutbacks in benefits and abolishing bargaining rights for most public employees.
Five years ago:
President Barack Obama opened a meeting in Rancho Mirage, California, of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, calling the landmark gathering on U.S. soil a reflection of his personal commitment to an enduring partnership with the diverse group of countries.
One year ago:
The U.S. government said about 380 Americans who were on board a cruise ship under quarantine in Japan because of the coronavirus would be flown back home on a chartered flight, but that they would face another twoweek quarantine.
Associated Press