On this date
In 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties.
In 1939, the Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., effectively outlawed sit-down strikes.
In 1943, the U.S. government, responding to a copper shortage, began circulating one-cent coins made of steel plated with zinc. (The steel pennies proved unpopular, since they were easily mistaken for dimes.)
In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.
In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until the following May.)
In 1982, Wayne Williams was found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period. (Williams, also blamed for 22 other deaths, has maintained his innocence.)
In 1991, Operation Desert Storm came to a conclusion as President George H.W. Bush declared that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.
Ten years ago: In Chile, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami killed 524 people and left more than 200,000 homeless.
Five years ago: Actor Leonard Nimoy, 83, world famous to “Star Trek” fans as the pointy-eared, purely logical science officer Mr. Spock, died in Los Angeles.
One year ago: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un projected optimism as they opened high-stakes talks in Vietnam about curbing Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.