Today in History
Today is Monday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2023. There are 307 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 27, 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of women to vote.
On this date:
• In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.
• 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 sitdown strikes.
• In 1942, the Battle of the Java Sea began during World War II; Imperial Japanese naval forces scored a decisive victory over the Allies.
• 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 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.
• In 1997, divorce became legal in Ireland.
• In 1998, with the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by giving a monarch’s first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son.
• In 2006, former Newark Eagles co-owner Effa Manley became the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• In 2010, in Chile, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami killed 524 people, caused $30 billion in damage and left more than 200,000 homeless.
• In 2020, U.S. stocks posted their worst one-day drop since 2011, as worldwide markets plummeted amid growing anxiety about the coronavirus; the Dow tumbled nearly 1,200 points. President Donald Trump declared that a widespread U.S. outbreak of the virus was not inevitable, even as top health authorities at his side warned more infections were coming.
• In 2021, the U.S. got a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that worked with just one dose instead of two.
Ten years ago: The Senate confirmed Jacob Lew to be Treasury secretary by a vote of 71-26. President Barack Obama unveiled a statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks at the U.S. Capitol. Van Cliburn, the internationally celebrated pianist whose spectacular career made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock star status, died in Fort Worth, Texas, at age 78.
Five years ago: It was revealed that security clearance of White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner had been downgraded, significantly reducing his access to classified information. (Kushner’s status was restored in May after the completion of his background check.) A fivehour truce ordered by Syria’s Russian allies to let civilians flee a besieged rebel-held enclave near Damascus failed to result in aid deliveries or medical evacuations, as deadly airstrikes and shelling continued.
One year ago: President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering Russian nuclear forces put on high alert, while Ukraine’s embattled leader agreed to talks with Moscow as Putin’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that a dramatic drop in coronavirus infections could lead to the lifting of vaccine mandates on restaurants, bars and theaters within days.