This Day in History: Feb. 27

Published February 27, 2020

On this day, Feb. 27 …

1968: At the conclusion of a CBS News special report on the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite delivers a commentary in which he says the conflict appears “mired in stalemate.”

Also on this day:

1801: The District of Columbia is placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.
1911: Inventor Charles F. Kettering demonstrates his electric automobile starter in Detroit by starting a Cadillac’s motor with just the press of a switch, instead of hand-cranking.
1922: The Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right of women to vote.
1933: Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, is gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, uses the fire to justify suspending civil liberties.
1943: The U.S. government, responding to a copper shortage, begins circulating one-cent coins made of steel plated with zinc. (The steel pennies would prove to be unpopular, since they were easily mistaken for dimes.)
1951: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, is ratified.
1960: The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team would go on to win the gold medal.)
1968: Former teen singing idol Frankie Lymon, known for such songs as “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” and “Goody Goody,” is found dead of a drug overdose in New York City at age 25.
1973: Members of the American Indian Movement occupy the small settlement of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children.
1982: Wayne Williams is found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young African-Americans whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period. (Williams, who was also blamed for 22 other deaths, has maintained his innocence.)
1991: Operation Desert Storm comes to a conclusion as President George H.W. Bush declares that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated.” He announces that allied forces would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.
1998: With the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s House of Lords agrees 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.
1999: The Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, is convicted in Largo, Fla., of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers.
2009: President Barack Obama tells Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C. that he would end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, and open a new era of diplomacy in the Middle East.
2009: The Rocky Mountain News ceases publishing after nearly 150 years in business.
2014: President Obama kicks off his “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative from the White House East Room, calling for vigorous efforts to reverse underachievement among young black and Hispanic males.
2018: President Trump names former digital adviser Brad Parscale as campaign manager for his 2020 reelection bid.
2018: The Anti-Defamation League reports a 57 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States during 2017.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/this-day-in-history-feb-27