Today in history
Today is Sunday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2018. There are 309 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 25, 1793, President George Washington held the first Cabinet meeting on record at his Mount Vernon home; attending were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.
On this date:
In 1507, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V, who accused the monarch of heresy.
In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.
In 1905, the Upton Sinclair novel “The Jungle” was first published in serial form by the Appeal to Reason newspaper.
In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.
In 1922, French serial killer Henri Landru, convicted of murdering 10 women and the son of one of them, was executed in Versailles (vehr-SY’).
In 1943, Allied troops reoccupied the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia after clashing with German troops during World War II.
In 1950, “Your Show of Shows,” starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, debuted on NBC-TV.
In 1964, Eastern Airlines Flight 304, a DC-8, crashed shortly after taking off from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 58 on board. Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing champion as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
In 1973, the Stephen Sondheim musical “A Little Night Music” opened at Broadway’s Shubert Theater.
In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.
In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
In 1994, Americanborn Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers.
Ten years ago: A 2006 Associated Press photograph of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wearing traditional local garb during a visit to Kenya began circulating online; the Obama campaign accused Hillary Clinton’s campaign of being responsible, a charge rejected by Clinton officials. The New York Philharmonic arrived in North Korea to perform a concert, the same day Lee Myungbak was sworn in as South Korea’s first conservative president in a decade.
Five years ago: A highstakes civil trial started in New Orleans to assign blame and help figure out exactly how much more BP and other companies should pay for the 2010 Gulf oil spill. (U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled in September 2014 that BP acted with “gross negligence”; BP ended up reaching a record-setting $20 billion settlement with the federal government and five Gulf states.) Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, 96, died in Hanover, New Hampshire.