TODAY IN HISTORY

Feb. 17, 1864

During the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic was rammed and sunk in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley in the first naval attack of its kind; the Hunley also sank. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1801

The U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.

1815

The United States and Britain exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

1865

During the Civil War, Columbia, South Carolina, burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in.

1897

The forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, convened its first meeting in Washington.

1933

Newsweek magazine was first published under the title “News-Week.”

1944

During World War II, U.S. forces invaded Eniwetok Atoll, encountering little initial resistance from Imperial Japanese troops.

1947

The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.

1968

The original Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located on the campus of Springfield College in Massachusetts, was opened to the public.

1972

President Richard M. Nixon departed the White House with his wife, Pat, on a historic trip to China.

1986

Johnson & Johnson announced it would no longer sell over-the-counter medications in capsule form, following the death of a woman who had taken a cyanidelaced Tylenol capsule.