Today in History
Today is Saturday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2007. There are 317 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On Feb. 17, 1801, the House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.
On this date:
In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union ship U.S.S. Housatonic was rammed and sunk in Charleston Harbor, S.C., by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine H.L. Hunley, which also sank.
In 1865, Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in. (It’s not clear which side set the blaze.)
In 1897, the forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, convened its first meeting, in Washington.
In 1904, the original two-act version of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly” was poorly received at its premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy.
In 1933, Newsweek was first published by Thomas J.C. Martyn under the title “News-Week.”
In 1947, the Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
In 1964, the Supreme Court, in Wesberry v. Sanders, ruled that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population.
In 1972, President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.
In 1992, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison (he was beaten to death in prison in November 1994).
In 1995, Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Railroad shootings (he was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison).
Ten years ago: In a surprising development, Pepperdine University said that Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr would step down from the probe to take a full-time job at the school. (Starr reversed himself four days later.)
Five years ago: President Bush opened a three-nation Asian tour in recession-wracked Japan, where he urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to follow through on long-promised economic reforms. The new Transportation Security Administration took over supervision of aviation security from the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration. Ward Burton took advantage of Sterling Marlin’s blunder for his first victory in the Daytona 500. (Marlin, who appeared in control of the race, was penalized for getting out of his car and pulling briefly on a damaged fender during the stoppage.)
One year ago: Ten U.S. service members died when a pair of Marine Corps helicopters crashed off the coast of Africa. Harry Whittington, the lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while quail hunting, left a Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital, saying “accidents do and will happen.” A federal jury in New Orleans cleared Merck and Co. in the death of a 53-year-old Florida man who had taken the painkiller Vioxx. A mudslide in the Philippines killed more than 1,000 people. William Cowsill, lead singer of the family band The Cowsills, died in Calgary, Alberta, at age 58.