TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Feb. 28, 1942 The heavy cruiser USS Houston and the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth were attacked by Japanese forces during the World War II Battle of Sunda Strait; both were sunk shortly after midnight on March 1 with a total loss of more than 1,000 men. ALSO ON THIS DATE 1849 The California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco. 1911 President William Howard Taft nominated William H. Lewis to be the first black Assistant Attorney General of the United States. 1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. 1993 A gun battle erupted at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. 1996 Britain’s Princess Diana agreed to divorce Prince Charles. 2013 Bradley Manning, the Army private arrested in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history, pleaded guilty at Fort Meade, Maryland, to 10 charges involving illegal possession or distribution of classified material. 2014 Delivering a blunt warning to Moscow, President Barack Obama expressed deep concern over reported military activity inside Ukraine by Russia and warned “there will be costs” for any intervention. 2018 White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted aides, abruptly announced her resignation.