TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is March 2, 2021.
Today’s highlight in history
On March 2, 1932, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which moved the date of the presidential inauguration from March 4 to Jan. 20, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
On this date
In 1867, Howard University, a historically Black school of higher learning in Washington, D.C., was founded. Congress passed, over President Andrew
Johnson’s veto, the first of four Reconstruction Acts.
In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential
election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.
In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act.
In 1939, Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope on his 63rd birthday. The Massachusetts legislature voted to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution had gone into effect.
In 1943, the three-day Battle of the Bismarck Sea began during World War II.
In 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game
against the New York Knicks, an NBA record that still stands. (Philadelphia won, 169-147.)
In 1965, the movie version of “The Sound of Music” had its world premiere in New York.
In 1977, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a strict code of ethics.
In 1985, the government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus, allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply.
In 1989, representatives from the 12 European Community nations agreed to ban all production of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), the synthetic compounds blamed for destroying
the Earth’s ozone layer, by the end of the 20th century.
In 1990, more than 6,000 drivers went on strike against Greyhound Lines Inc.
In 1995, the Internet search engine website Yahoo! was incorporated.
Ten years ago: The Supreme Court ruled, 8-1, that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral had to yield to First Amendment protections for free speech in a decision favoring the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.
Five years ago: The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions against North Korea in two decades, reflecting growing anger at its latest nuclear test and rocket launch in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity.
Today’s birthdays
Actor John Cullum is 91. Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is 90. Actor Barbara Luna is 82. Author John Irving is 79. Actor Cassie Yates is 70. Actor Laraine Newman is 69. Singer Jay Osmond is 66. Singer Jon Bon Jovi is 59. Actor Daniel Craig is 53. Singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 44. Actor Rebel Wilson is 41. Actor Bryce Dallas Howard is 40. NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 39. Actor Robert Iler is 36. Actor Nathalie Emmanuel is 32.