February 27
Today in America's Present Past
1659 | Cleric and academic Henry Dunster died.
1795 | War of Independence hero Francis Marion died. Known as the “Swamp Fox,” his guerrilla tactics in the South Carolina marshes were essential to the American victory.
1801 | Congress: The District Of Columbia Organic Act passed. This act formally placed the District under the exclusive control of Congress.
1807 | Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born.
1813 | Congress: First national vaccine legislation was passed. It was designed to encourage vaccination against smallpox and established a National Vaccine Agency.
1827 | New Orleans, Louisiana, celebrated its first Mardi Gras. While the city had celebrated for years, 1827 marks the first time a group of masked students paraded through the streets in a manner that resembles the modern street festival.
1860 | POTUS: Candidate for President Abraham Lincoln gave his “Cooper Union Address” in New York City, New York. This is often called “the speech that made Lincoln president.” In it, Lincoln argued the Founding Fathers intended for the federal government to have the power to limit slavery. Its intellectual rigor convinced New York’s elite that this “westerner” was a serious statesman.
1864 | Civil War: Battle of Dalton, Georgia.
1867 | Economist Irving Fisher was born.
1872 | Civil Rights: Charlotte Ray, graduated from law school at Howard University. She was the first African American woman to graduate from law school but also the first woman admitted to the District of Columbia Bar.
1877 | Entrepreneur Walter O’Briggs was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
1878 | Entrepreneur Charles Strite was born.
1880 | Journalist Angelina Weld Grimke was born.
1883 | The first cigar-rolling machine was patented by Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein (grandfather of the famous lyricist) was an inventor and theater mogul.
1886 | SCOTUS: Justice Hugo L. Black was born.
1897 | Musician Marian Anderson was born.
1902 | Novelist John Ernst Steinbeck was born.
1906 | Aviator Samuel Pierpont Langley died.
1907 | Musician Mildred Bailey was born.
1910 | Inventor Kelly Johnson was born in Ishpeming, Michigan.
1917 | Politician and Kennedy assignation victim John Connally was born.
1922 | SCOTUS: The Court upheld the 19th Amendment in Leser v. Garnett.
1932 | Actress Elizabeth Taylor was born.
1934 | Author N. Scott Momaday was born.
1934 | Activist Ralph Nader was born.
1942 | WWII: Japanese forces defeated Allied forces at the Battle of Java Sea. A disastrous defeat for the ABDA (American-British-Dutch-Australian) Command. It effectively ended naval resistance in the East Indies and paved the way for the Japanese invasion of Java.
1951 | The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Following the four-term presidency of Roosevelt, this amendment established the two-term limit for. Presidents. It was officially ratified when Minnesota became the 36th state to approve it.
1951 | Politician Lee Atwater was born.
1951 | W.E.B. Du Bois wed Shirley Graham.
1962 | Actor Grant Show was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1966 | Actor Gregg Rainwater was born in Flint, Michigan.
1968 | Basketball Pro Loy Vaught was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1968 | Vietnam War: Walter Cronkite “the most trusted man in America” delivered a televised editorial concluding that the Vietnam War was “mired in stalemate.” President Johnson remarked, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
1969 | Musician Brad Vander Ark was born in Holland, Michigan.
1970 | Civil Rights: The New York Times falsely reported the U.S. Army had ended domestic surveillance.
1973 | Civil Rights: The Wounded Knee Incident started at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Roughly 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized the town, beginning a 71-day armed standoff with federal law enforcement over tribal corruption and treaty violations.
1981 | Singer Josh Groban was born.
1985 | Politician Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. died.
1986 | Congress: The U.S. Senate allowed television broadcasts of their proceedings.
1991 | Gulf War: General Norman Schwarzkopf declared “Kuwait is liberated,” as the ground war reached its 100th hour and a ceasefire was imminent.
1994 | Aviator Laurence Craigie died.
1998 | Scientist George H. Hitchings died.
2003 | Children’s TV personality Fred Rogers died.
2008 | Author and activist William F. Buckley died.
2012 | Foreign agent Julian Assange began publishing U.S. intelligence documents.
2015 | Actor Leonard Nimoy died.
2016 | Actor George Kennedy died.
2019 | POTUS: Republican President Trump met with DPRK dictator Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam.
2024 | Actor Richard Lewis died.