February 25

This Day in American History

    1643 – The Dutch massacre of friendly Indians at Pavonia, near present-day Hackensack, New Jersey, is ordered by William Kieft, Governor of New Netherlands. 120 Wecquaesgeek men, women and children, asleep in their wigwams, died. Eyewitness David P. deVries noted: "...about midnight I heard a great shrieking, and I ran to the ramparts of the fort... Saw nothing but firing, and heard the shrieks of the savages murdered in their sleep. When it was day, the soldiers returned to the fort, having massacred or murdered 80 Indians, and considering they had done a deed of Roman valor, in murdering so many in their sleep; where infants were torn from mother's breasts, and hacked to pieces in the presence of the parents, and the pieces thrown into the fire and in the water, and other sucklings, being bound top small boards, were cut, stuck, pierced, & miserably massacred in a manner to move a heart of stone...“  The Native Americans call it "The Slaughter of the Innocents."  This attack united the Algonquin peoples in the surrounding areas, to an extent not seen before. On October 1, 1643, a force of united "tribes" attacked the homesteads at Pavonia, most of which were burned to the ground. Many settlers were killed and those who survived were ordered to the relative safety of New Amsterdam. Pavonia was evacuated.
http://www.getnj.com/jchist/19.shtml 
    1751 – The first monkey ever to perform in the US appeared in NYC for a 1 cent admission.
    1779 - George Rogers Clark captures Fort Sackville at Vincennes, Indiana, over a British garrison led by Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton. Roughly half of Clark's militia were Canadien volunteers sympathetic to the American cause. After a daring wintertime march, the small American force was able to force the British to surrender the fort and in a larger frame the Illinois territory.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb25.html
    1781 - American General Nathanael Greene crossed the Dan River on his way to his March 15th confrontation with Lord Charles Cornwallis at Guilford Court House, N.C.
    1791 - The charter of the first bank of the US: The First Bank of the US at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was proposed as a national bank by Alexander Hamilton.  It lost its charter in 1811. The Second Bank of the US received a charter in 1816 which expired in 1836. Since that time, the US had no central bank until 1913 when the Federal Reserve System was established.
    1793 – The first US Cabinet met at the home of President George Washington.
    1804 - The Democratic-Republican Party held their first caucus and elected Thomas Jefferson of Virginia for President and George Clinton of New York for Vice-President. The Federalists did not have a caucus but supported Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina for President and Rufus King of New York for Vice-President. Jefferson received 162 electoral votes and Pinckney 14.
    1824 - The Baptist General Tract Society was organized in Washington, D.C. In 1826, the society was moved to Philadelphia, and by 1840, the organization had issued over 3.5 million copies of 162 different tracts.
    1825 – New Harmony, Indiana. Robert Owen announces New Harmony utopian plan in Indiana to government dignitaries in the Hall of the US House of Representatives.
http://www-lib.iupui.edu/kade/newharmony/home.html
http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/marx/Bio/owen.html
http://www.avsands.com/Travel/Places/newharmonyindi_une_av.htm
http://www.newharmony.org/
    1836 - Samuel Colt obtained a patent for “an improvement in revolving fire-arms.” He had invented the revolving cylinder pistol in 1830 while he was traveling on the S.S. Carlo. With a pocket knife he whittled a wood model. He first obtained a patent from England in 1835. After his US patent, he formed the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, NJ, capitalized at $230,000. The first revolvers produced by the factory were .34-caliber models. The company nearly failed in its first decade but was revived by an order from the government in 1847 for one hundred revolvers to use in the Mexican-American War. The revolver was the first firearm that could be used effectively by a man on horseback. Colt set up a new factory in Connecticut and made a fortune after the war as ranchers, outlaws, prospectors, and lawmen stormed into the newly acquired Western territories with their six-shooters blazing.
    1837 – The first US electric printing press was patented by Thomas Davenport.
    1842 - Famous woman lighthouse keeper, Ida Z. Lewis (d. 1911), was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She was the oldest daughter of the lighthouse keeper at Lime Rock in Newport, R.I. and she assumed her father's responsibilities when he suffered a paralytic stroke when she was 15. By rowing her sister and brothers to school and getting supplies from the mainland, she became an expert oarsperson. Her ability to handle a boat even in the worst weather conditions enabled her to rescue dozens of people from capsized boats in Newport Harbor. Her fame spread throughout the country and she was honored in numerous ceremonies. President Grant and dignitaries of her area paid their respects by personally visiting this great 19th century heroine. In 1879, after 22 years of keeping the Lime Rock Lighthouse, she was officially designated the first woman Keeper of the Light.
http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/lewi-ida.htm.
    1843 – King Kamehameha III agreed to cede the Hawaiian Islands to Lord George Paulet over legal disputes with British subjects. Lord Paulet then formed an occupation government while attempting to annex the Kingdom of Hawaii to the UK. The Provisional Cession lasted only five months.
    1847 – The State University of Iowa was approved, just 59 days after Iowa was admitted to the Union.  Not be confused with Iowa State University, the legal name of the university is the State University of Iowa, but the Board of Regents approved using "The University of Iowa" for everyday usage in October 1964.
    1862 - The U.S. Congress passes the Legal Tender Act, authorizing the use of paper notes to pay the government's bills. This ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly war long after its gold and silver reserves were depleted. Several proposals involving the use of bonds were suggested. Finally, Congress began printing money, which the Confederate government had been doing since the beginning of the war. The Legal Tender Act allowed the government to print $150 million in paper money that was not backed by a similar amount of gold and silver. Another Legal Tender Act passed in 1863, and by war's end, nearly a half-billion dollars in greenbacks had been issued. The Legal Tender Act laid the foundation for the creation of a permanent currency in the decades after the Civil War.  At this time, the Comptroller of the Currency was also established.
   1863 - The first bank to file as a National Bank under “an act to provide a national currency” was the First National Bank of Davenport, IA. Austin Corbin was the first president. For two days, the bank was the only national bank in operation under the new act.
    1866 - Miners in Calaveras County, CA discovered what is now called the Calaveras Skull - human remains that supposedly indicated that man, mastodons, and elephants had co-existed.
    1870 - Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first black U.S. senator and the first black representative in Congress. Revels was elected to fill the office vacated by Jefferson Davis. He served through March 1871, the remainder of Davis' vacated term. The first African-American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate, Blanche Kelso Bruce (1875-1881), was also from Mississippi.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000166
http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.com/~docbratt/hiram_rhodes.htm
http://www.shider.com/history/revels.htm
http://ctct.essortment.com/africanamerican_pwr.htm
    1873 - Enrico Caruso (d. 1921), universally regarded as the world's greatest operatic tenor, was born in Naples, Italy. He became widely known in 1898 through his appearances in Milan, about three years after his debut at Caserta, near Naples, in the role of Faust. In 1902, he made his London debut and the following year, he first appeared in the U.S. He was very well received and actually bought a house here as he made many tours and was extremely popular. Caruso made his first recordings in 1901 and was largely responsible for the public perceiving the phonograph as a home entertainment medium rather than a toy. His recording of "Vesti La Giubba (On With the Motley)" for the Victor Company in 1907 is believed to be among the first records to sell a million copies. For more than 30 years after his death in 1921, Caruso was one of the Victor Company’s top-selling artists. The 1951 film "The Great Caruso," with Mario Lanza, provided renewed interest in his records.
http://www.enricocarusomuseum.com/home.html
    1874 - Skokomish Indian reservation was established near Shelton, Washington.  The Skokomish Tribal Nation is a federally-recognized tribe of Skokomish, Twana, Klallam, and Chimakum people, indigenous of the Pacific Northwest, and one of nine bands of Twana people.
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/hstaa432/
lesson_12/skokomish.html
http://www.pacificnet.net/jue/idontknow/answersexplanations/
dogowa.html
http://www.skokomish.org/
http://www.newsdata.com/enernet/fishletter/documents/fl7doc8c.html
http://www.wavcc.org/wvc/cadre/WaStateHistory/course/tribes.htm
    1875 - Kiowa Indians under Chief Lone Wolf surrendered at Ft Sill, OK.
    1888 – Former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (d. 1959) was born in Washington, DC.  His civil service dates to the Wilson administration as legal counsel for the US delegation to the Versailles Peace conference which experience was valuable to him later as a drafter of the United Nations charter.  Later, he was Secretary of State under President Eisenhower.  Dulles died in 1959 of colon cancer and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  He has received numerous awards in the US and in Europe, among them the Medal of Freedom.  The Dulles International Airport and Dulles, VA are named in his honor.  "The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art... if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost."
    1896 - Singer/songwriter Ida Cox was born Ida Prather (d. 1967), Toccoa, GA.
http://www.blues.org/history/womenhistory/idacox.html
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/2541/blicox.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005K2D1/
avsearch-df1-9-20/102-1682336-8966565
    1900 - Pianist Hartzell “Tiny” Parham (d. 1943) was born Winnipeg, Manitoba.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/tiny.html
http://www.musical-genre.com/tiny_parham.htm
    1901 – Wealthy industrialist J.P. Morgan incorporated the United States Steel Corporation.  In its day, there was a saying, “As US Steel goes, so goes the country.”
    1901 – The youngest of the Marx Brothers, Zeppo, was born Herbert Manfred Marx (d. 1979) in NYC. 
    1908 – The first tunnel under the Hudson River, for railroads, was completed.
    1910 - Millicent Fenwick (d. 1992), the inspiration for Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" character Lacey Davenport, was born at New York, NY. Former fashion model, author, member NJ General Assembly and US congresswoman, she was a champion of liberal causes.  Fenwick pointed to her sponsorship of the resolution creating the commission to monitor the 1975 Helsinki accords on human rights as her proudest achievement. She fought for civil rights, peace in Vietnam, aid for the poor, reduction of military programs, gun control and restrictions on capital punishment.
    1907 - US playwright Mary Coyle Chase (d. 1981) was born in Denver.   She won the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for the play “Harvey”, the tale of an invisible six-foot rabbit. She wrote a sparkling screenplay to convert it into a very successful movie. She began her writing career as newspaper reporter. 
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153808/
    1913 – Federal Income Tax: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states and without regard to any census or enumeration. The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on February 3 by Rhode Island (interestingly, it was a Republican bluff that brought the bill forward in the Rhode Island legislature as they thought the Democrats would be crazy passing it), permitting the levying of an income tax on individuals and businesses without apportionment on the basis of the population of states. It did not go into effect until February 12th. Officially, the Secretary of State Philander Knox on February 25, 1913 declared it to be "in effect", but never stating it was lawfully ratified. There were many legal issues from the various states that were never resolved. The change did not come at once, however, for the first income tax law specified graduated rates of 1 to 6% of income. It was a flat tax. There is controversy that not all the states ratified this amendment, although amendments to it were made Congress….which controversy remains today.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3920a3ba708e.htm
http://www.scrapthecode.com/educating/history.html 
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment16/01.html#1
http://www.16thamendment.com/intro.asp
    1913 – The actor who was the voice of the nearsighted Mr. Magoo, Jim Backus (d. 1989), was born in Cleveland.  He also gained fame as the wealthy Thurston Howell III in “Gilligan’s Island.” 
    1913 – Auric “Goldfinger” actor Gert Frobe (d. 1988) was born in Saxony. 
    1918 - “Bobby” Riggs birthday, tennis player, was born Robert Lormier Riggs (d. 1995) at Los Angeles, CA. Riggs won the US National Singles Championship in 1939 and 1941 and won three titles at Wimbledon in 1939. After World War II, he turned pro successfully but won his greatest fame as the male sexist for a pair of “Battle of the Sexes” matches in 1973. He won the first of these against Margaret Court and lost the second to Billie Jean King.
    1919 - Oregon became the first state to impose a state gasoline sales tax, placing one cent per gallon on all motor fuel. The funds collected were used for road construction and maintenance.
    1919 - Jazz cellist Fred Katz’s (d. 2013) birthday, NYC.
http://www.spaceagepop.com/katz.htm
http://www.emusic.com/cd/10735/10735030.html?fref=148694
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r1202_044.htm
    1919 – New York Giants outfielder Monte Irvin (d. 2016) was born in Haleburg, AL.  A star with the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues, Irvin became an All-Star with the Giants five times and was the mentor of All-time great, Hall of Famer Willie Mays.  Irvin was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
    1919 – The League of Nations was established under the Treaty of Paris.
    1922 - “Texas Rose” Bascom (d. 1993) birthday. A Cherokee-Choctaw Indian born at Covington County, MS, Rose Flynt married rodeo cowboy Earl Bascom and learned trick roping, becoming known as the greatest female trick roper in the world. She appeared on stage, in movies, and on early TV. She toured with the USO during World War II, performing at every military base and military hospital in the US. After the war, she entertained servicemen stationed overseas. In 1981, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame (located at Hereford, TX).
    1922 - The temperature at Los Angeles, CA, soared to 92 degrees to establish a record for the month of February.
    1924 – Manager Ty Cobb issued an edict to his team, the Detroit Tigers, forbidding players to play golf during training camp. A report in the Detroit Free Press said Cobb confiscated players' golf clubs.
    1924 - Marie Boyd scored 156 points in a Maryland High School basketball game that her team, Lonaconing Central High School, won against Ursuline Academy of Cumberland, 163-3.  She is still listed first in the National High School Sports Record Book for most points scored and field goals made (77) in a single six-girl basketball game.
    1927 - Pianist James P. Johnson’s first recording of “Snowy Morning Blues,” Columbia 14204-D)
    1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC became the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
    1928 – TV writer, playwright, screenwriter and author Larry Gelbart (d. 2009) was born in Chicago.  His best work was as the creator of the record-breaking hit TV show “M*A*S*H*” that ran 1972-83. 
    1929 - Saxophonist Tommy Newsom (d. 2007) was born in Portsmouth, VA. He is best-known for his playing in the Tonight Show Band of the 1960's, 70's and 80's where he occasionally was the butt of jokes as Doc Severinsen’s dim-witted sidekick. Newsom was always good-humored about it all, but this particular "gig" covered up the fact that he was actually a pretty talented tenor-saxophone soloist.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001VNM/
avsearch-df1-9-20/102-1682336-8966565
    1932 – Singer Faron Young (d. 1996) was born in Shreveport, LA.  A singer and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s, he was one of its most successful and colorful stars. Hits including "If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’)" and "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" marked him as a honky-tonk singer in sound and personal style; and his chart-topping singles "Hello Walls" and "It’s Four in the Morning" showed his versatility as a vocalist. Young's singles reliably charted for more than 30 years. He committed suicide in 1996. Young is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
    1933 – USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier.  After outstanding service in the Atlantic during World War II, Ranger was decommissioned in 1947 and sold for scrap.
    1933 – NFL rule changes:  hash marks 10 yards in from the sidelines and goal posts were placed on the goal line.
    1933 – Tom Yawkey bought the Boston Red Sox from Bob Quinn just four days after receiving a $7 million inheritance.  Yawkey owned the team for 44 years.
    1934 – One of golf’s more flamboyant personalities, Champagne Tony Lema (d. 1966) was born in Oakland, CA.  His only major title was the 1964 Open Championship.  He died at age 32 in an airplane accident.
    1938 - Miami Drive-In Debuts: Miami's first drive-in movie theater opened.  Invented by Richard Hollingshead, the first drive-in debuted in New Jersey June 6, 1933, on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsuaken. Admission was 25 cents per car and 25 cents per individual, with no car paying more than one dollar. Hollingshead received a patent for his idea in 1933, but it was later repealed in 1939. Without a patent to hinder them, copycats began opening up drive-ins all across the country. By 1938, most metropolitan areas had drive-in theaters. The drive-in craze would reach its peak in 1963 when 3,502 theaters were in operation across the country. Today, most drive-ins have been replaced by DVD, TV movies, Internet movie rentals, and On-Demand movies on cable TV, as the most inexpensive way to watch a movie, or romantic encounter. Land values had become so expensive for other, more lucrative uses that owners sought to cash in rather than continue their operations.  As of March 2014, 348 drive-ins were reported in the US.  In the Fall of 2014, the burger chain Johnny Rockets announced that it would team up with USA Drive-Ins to open 200 drive-ins by 2018 serving Johnny Rocket's food at the concession stands.
    1942 - The US Navy orders Japanese American residents of Terminal Island near Los Angeles Harbor to leave in 48 hours. They are the first group to be removed en masse and suffer especially heavy losses of their homes and businesses as a result. Lesser known is the fact that similar fates were visited upon German-American and Italian-American families during the war.
http://www.janm.org/clasc/resources.htm
http://www.janet.org/janet_history/niiya_chron.html
    1943 - George Harrison (d. 2001), former lead guitarist for the Beatles, was born in Liverpool, England. He was the guitarist and co-songwriter for the Beatles, alongside John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The band is considered to be the most influential rock and roll group of all time. Harrison is credited with introducing Eastern musical styles and instrumentation to Western Pop. After the breakup of the Beatles, Harrison embarked on a successful solo career, became an independent film producer (“Time Bandits”) and created on of the first charity rock concerts with his “Concert for Bangladesh,” which brought relief to flood victims of that country. His first project after the Beatles broke up in early 1970 was a three-record set, "All Things Must Pass," which contained the number-one single, "My Sweet Lord," which was later litigated and found to have been a plagiarization of “He’s So Fine.” The two benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York for the people of Bangladesh, a documentary film and a Grammy Award-winning three-record set earned more than 10 million dollars, which was donated to UNICEF after a lengthy delay caused by legal problems. Harrison had another number-one hit in 1973 with "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)," and his tribute to John Lennon, "All Those Years Ago," made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. Harrison's 1987 comeback album "Cloud Nine," was a big hit, as was the single "Got My Mind Set On You."
http://web.mit.edu/scholvin/www/harrison/harrison.html
    1944 - Top Hits
“Besame Mucho” - The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (vocal: Bob Eberly & Kitty Kallen
“My Heart Tells Me” - The Glen Gray Orchestra (vocal: Eugenie Baird)
“Shoo, Shoo, Baby” - The Andrews Sisters
“Ration Blues” - Louis Jordan
    1946 - Les Brown records “Lover's Leap” for Columbia.
    1946 – Back from military service, Ted Williams hit the first pitch he saw in spring training for a home run.
    1950 - “Your Show of Shows” premiered on TV.  Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca starred in the NBC 90-minute variety program along with Carl Reiner and Howard Morris. It started as a one hour show February 25, 1950. The show included monologues, improvisations, parodies, pantomimes and sketches of varying length. Some of its writers were: Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon and Woody Allen. It was my father's favorite show. He was general manager of WOR-TV in New York. We grew up enjoying "live TV." He was a friend of Carl Reiner and Howard Morris and the director of the show, Irv Kirshner, was one of my father's best friends, who also directed the Jackie Gleason Show, if my memory serves me correctly.
    1952 - Top Hits
Cry - Johnnie Ray
Slowpoke - Pee Wee King
Anytime - Eddie Fisher
Give Me More, More, More (Of Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
    1957 - Buddy Holly and The Crickets traveled to Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, NM, to record "That'll Be the Day" (one of the classics of rock 'n' roll) and "I'm Looking for Someone to Love." Both songs were released on Brunswick Records in May of that year. The record, released under the Crickets' name, was Holly's first million-seller, topping both North American and British charts.
    1957 - The Supreme Court decided 6-3 that baseball is the only professional sport exempt from antitrust laws.  The issue arises when pro football seeks similar protection from the laws.
    1960 - Top Hits
“The Theme from ‘A Summer Place’" - Percy Faith
“Handy Man” - Jimmy Jones
“What in the World's Come Over You” - Jack Scott
“He'll Have to Go” - Jim Reeves
    1961 - Davey Allison (d. 1993), NASCAR auto racer,  was born at Hueytown, AL. Allison won 19 races in 191 starts, including one Daytona 500. The son of racer Bobby Allison, Davey was killed in a helicopter accident on the infield of the racetrack at Talladega, AL, July 13, 1993.
    1961 - After being discharged from the US army nearly a year ago, Elvis Presley makes his first concert appearance since 1958 at the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee. During the show, RCA Records presents The King with a plaque to commemorate 76 million records sold worldwide.
    1963 - Vee Jay Records, a small Chicago-based label, releases the first Beatles record in the US, "Please Please Me" backed with "Ask Me Why." A smash in the UK, barely noticed in the US, "Please Please Me" was the second record released in the U.S. by The Beatles. Some labels carried a famous misprint, making it an instant, and valuable, collector's item. The label listed the group as The Beatles.
    1963 – Former Yankees right fielder and current Yankees broadcaster, Paul O’Neill, was born in Columbus, OH.  O’Neill was a five-time World Series champion, one with Cincinnati and four with the Yankees.  He is the only Major Leaguer to have played on the winning team in three perfect games:  Tom Browning, 1988, David Wells, 1998, and David Cone, 1999.
    1964 - Twenty-two-year-old Cassius Clay won the world heavyweight boxing title by defeating Sonny Liston in the seventh round in Miami, FL. Clay had been an 8-1 underdog. In fact, only 8,297 fans showed up for the bout. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/specials/ali_at_60/1722098.stm
http://www.antekprizering.com/claylistonfive.html. 
Asked how he would defeat Sonny Liston, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” At the height of his athletic career, Ali was well known for both his fighting ability and personal style. His most famous saying was, "I am the greatest!” In 1967, he was convicted of violating the Selective Service Act and was stripped of his title for refusing to be inducted into the armed services during the Vietnam War. Ali cited religious convictions as his reason for refusal. In 1971, the Supreme Court reversed the conviction. Ali is the only fighter to win the heavyweight fighting title three separate times. He defended that title nine times. He has devoted his life to helping others. Despite a crippling disease, he gives much time to promoting peace and bringing people together.
    1964 - U.S. Air Force launched a satellite employing an Atlas/Agena combination from Point Arguello, CA and from Cape Kennedy, FL.
    1966 - CONNOR, PETER S. Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company F, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF. Place and date: Quang Nag Province, Republic of Vietnam, 25 February 1966. Entered service at: South Orange, NJ. Born: 4 September 1932, Orange, N.J. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against enemy Viet Cong forces at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Leading his platoon on a search and destroy operation in an area made particularly hazardous by extensive cave and tunnel complexes, S/Sgt. Connor maneuvered his unit aggressively forward under intermittent enemy small-arms fire. Exhibiting particular alertness and keen observation, he spotted an enemy spider hole emplacement approximately 15 meters to his front. He pulled the pin from a fragmentation grenade intending to charge the hole boldly and drop the missile into its depths. Upon pulling the pin he realized that the firing mechanism was faulty, and that even as he held the safety device firmly in place, the fuse charge was already activated. With only precious seconds to decide, he further realized that he could not cover the distance to the small opening of the spider hole in sufficient time, and that to hurl the deadly bomb in any direction would result in death or injury to some of his comrades tactically deployed near him. Manifesting extraordinary gallantry and with utter disregard for his personal safety, he chose to hold the grenade against his body in order to absorb the terrific explosion and spare his comrades. His act of extreme valor and selflessness in the face of virtually certain death, although leaving him mortally wounded, spared many of his fellow marines from death or injury. His gallant action in giving his life in the cause of freedom reflects the highest credit upon the Marine Corps and the Armed Forces of the United States.
    1966 - Nancy Sinatra receives her first gold record for "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." She will share a gold record with her father Frank next year for "Something Stupid.”
    1968 - Top Hits
“Love is Blue” - Paul Mauriat
“(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls” - Dionne Warwick
“(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” - Otis Redding
“Skip a Rope” - Henson Cargill
    1969 - *MORGAN, WILLIAM D., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Company H, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 25 February 1969. Entered service at: Pittsburgh, Pa. Born: 17 September 1947, Pittsburgh, Pa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a squad leader with Company H, in operations against the enemy. While participating in Operation DEWEY CANYON southeast of Vandergrift Combat Base, 1 of the squads of Cpl. Morgan's platoon was temporarily pinned down and sustained several casualties while attacking a North Vietnamese Army force occupying a heavily fortified bunker complex. Observing that 2 of the wounded marines had fallen in a position dangerously exposed to the enemy fire and that all attempts to evacuate them were halted by a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Cpl. Morgan unhesitatingly maneuvered through the dense jungle undergrowth to a road that passed in front of a hostile emplacement which was the principal source of enemy fire. Fully aware of the possible consequences of his valiant action, but thinking only of the welfare of his injured companions, Cpl. Morgan shouted words of encouragement to them as he initiated an aggressive assault against the hostile bunker. While charging across the open road, he was clearly visible to the hostile soldiers who turned their fire in his direction and mortally wounded him, but his diversionary tactic enabled the remainder of his squad to retrieve their casualties and overrun the North Vietnamese Army position. His heroic and determined actions saved the lives of 2 fellow marines and were instrumental in the subsequent defeat of the enemy. Cpl. Morgan's indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and selfless devotion to duty upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the U.S. Naval Services. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
    1972 – The St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies traded starting pitchers:  The Cards sent lefty Steve Carlton to the Phils for Rick Wise.  The trade will prove to be one of the best in the history of the Philadelphia franchise, as Carlton will win an amazing 27 games for the last-place Phillies this season. During his career with the Phillies, Carlton will collect 241 wins, four Cy Young Awards and help the Phils win 6 NL East crowns, 2 National League pennants, and the 1980 World Series.
    1973 - Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/4077/corona.html
    1976 - Top Hits
“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” - Paul Simon
“Theme from S.W.A.T.” - Rhythm Heritage
“Love Machine (Part 1)” - The Miracles
“Good Hearted Woman” - Waylon & Willie
    1977 - Dust reduced visibilities from eastern Virginia through the southeastern states to Florida between the 24th and 28th. The dust originated in the western Great Plains on the 22nd and 23rd with wind gusts above 100 mph reported at Guadalupe Pass, Texas, at White Sands, New Mexico, in Sherman County, Kansas, and in eastern Colorado.
    1977 – Pistol Pete Maravich set the NBA record for a guard with 68 pts    
    1981 - Christopher Cross won five Grammy Awards at ceremonies in Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He was awarded the Album of the Year award for "Christopher Cross" and his hit, "Sailing", won for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Christopher was also voted Best New Artist of 1980. All in all, a very good night for Mr. Cross...
    1982 - Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.  The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1955 to 1971, followed by 11 years in first-run syndication from 1971 to 1982. Repeat episodes are broadcast in the United States by PBS stations.
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    1984 - "Ironweed," by William P. Kennedy, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The novel, about a man trying to make peace with the ghosts of his past -- and present, also captured the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. ("Ironweed" was made into a movie in 1987, directed by Hector Babenco, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep).
    1984 - Top Hits
“Jump” - Van Halen
“99 Luftballons” - Nena
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” - Cyndi Lauper
“Stay Young” - Don Williams
    1986 - "We Are The World" captured four Grammy Awards. The song, featuring more than 40 superstar artists gathered at one time, was awarded the Top Song, Record of the Year, Best Pop Performance and Best Short Video Awards. Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson wrote the song, which was recorded by 45 celebrities. The record raised more than $33 million for African famine relief.
    1987 - Frank Sinatra's appearance on "Magnum PI" gave the TV show its highest rating ever.
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    1987 – Southern Methodist University's football program is the first college football program to receive the “death penalty” by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions. It was revealed that athletic officials and school administrators had knowledge of a “slush fund” used to make illegal payments to the school's football players as far back as 1981.
    1987 – Former Cy Young Award winner, LaMarr Hoyt, was banned from baseball for the 1987 season for drug abuse.
    1988 - Bruce Springsteen opened his "Tunnel of Love" tour in Worcester, Mass. Springsteen shed his working-man image, adopting the persona of a boardwalk carnie. He performed eight songs from the "Tunnel of Love" album plus an assortment of "B" sides, unreleased songs, cover tunes and new material. Songs from Springsteen's earlier albums were virtually ignored.
    1989 - Mike Tyson knocked out Frank Bruno in the fifth round in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tyson was the WBA, WBC & IBF Undisputed World Heavyweight Champ.
    1989 - Thirteen cities in Florida reported record low temperatures for the date, including Jacksonville with a reading of 24 degrees. Severe cold in Florida claimed three lives and resulted in 250 to 300 million dollars crop damage. Unseasonably warm weather prevailed in the central U.S. Dodge City, KS reported record high of 80 degrees.
    1989 – Shortly after buying the team from the Murchison family, owner Jerry Jones fired the only coach the Dallas Cowboys ever had, Tom Landry.
    1990 - Snow spread across the northeastern U.S. Massachusetts was blanketed with 8 to 15 inches of snow, 5 to 10 inches was reported in Rhode Island, and totals in Connecticut ranged up to 10.5 inches at New Canaan. In central New York State, snow and high winds resulted in a number of chain-reaction multiple accidents, and a total of 108 persons were injured. Snow and high winds created white-out conditions along Interstate 87 in Saratoga County, NY. Sub-zero cold was reported from Minnesota through Michigan to northern New England. Duluth, MN reported a record low of 26 degrees below zero
    1991 – During the Gulf war, an Iraqi scud missile hit an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 US Army reservists from Pennsylvania.
    1992 - Natalie Cole's single and album "Unforgettable" captured seven Grammy awards, including Best Album, Best Record and Best Song. Victoria native David Foster was named Producer of the Year for the album and single. The title song of "Unforgettable" was an electronically-produced duet between Cole and her father, Nat (King) Cole, who died in 1965.
    1992 - Grammy awards for Vancouver rocker Bryan Adams, who won for best song written specifically for a motion picture or television - for "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" from "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."
    1992 - Eric Clapton wins six Grammys, including Best Record and Best Song for "Tears In Heaven" as well as Best Album for "Unplugged." James Brown is recognized for Lifetime Achievement and Michael Bolton is given a statue for Best Pop Vocal Performance for his note-for-note remake of "When a Man Loves a Woman."
    1992 – Muddy Waters won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards.
    1993 - The Florida Marlins baseball team introduced their mascot, Billy the Marlin. According to Billy's Web page, (web7.sportsline.com/u/baseball/ flamarlins/kids/billyhome.htm), Billy's favorite movie is "A Fish Called Wanda" and his favorite TV show is "Flipper."  The team is now known as the Miami Marlins, reminiscent of the long-time minor league team of that name.
    1993 - The big snow season of 1992-93 continued to set records. Evansville, Indiana set a new monthly snowfall record on this date with 18.4 inches. 12.7 inches of snow fell in 24 hours at Columbia, Missouri to set a new 24-hour snowfall record for the month. Light snow at Pocatello, Idaho raised its seasonal snowfall total to 85.7 inches to set a new all-time seasonal snowfall record. The old record was 85.6 inches set in the 1983-84 season.
    1994 – “Holy Cow!”  Former Yankees shortstop, Phil Rizzuto, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
    1995 - Frank Sinatra performs for what would be the last time, singing his hits for a private party of 1,200 at his own golf tournament, the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic in Palm Springs, CA. His last song? "The Best Is Yet To Come."  “The Chairman of the Board” passed away in May, 1998.
    1995 - Madonna's "Take a Bow" became the #1 single in the U.S. The smash hit was number one for seven weeks: “Take a bow, the night is over; this masquerade is getting older; Lights are low, the curtains down; There's no one here.”
    1997 - Directors of Bethel Bible Village met to decide whether to remove Pat Boone as a sponsor for the Pat Boone Celebrity Spectacular, a charity golf tournament the singer had supported for nearly 20 years. A few weeks earlier, Boone had turned from cotton-candy crooner to leather-clad heavy-metal rocker. Trinity Broadcasting, a Christian TV network, received so many complaints about his heavy-metal act that it canceled his weekly Gospel America show. However, he remained host of a Christian film and TV awards program. According to Chairman Theodore Baehr of the Christian Film and Television Commission, "In white bucks or black leather, Pat Boone is still the same guy underneath".
    1998 - The Grammys were handed out during ceremonies at Radio City Music Hall. Bob Dylan won three Grammys, including one for Best Album for "Time Out Of Mind." Dylan's son, Jakob, also won an award, winning Best Song for "One Headlight," a song he recorded with his band, The Wallflowers. Also winning awards were John Fogerty, who picked up Best Rock Album for "Blue Moon Swamp," Elton John for Best Male Vocal for "Candle In The Wind 1997" and Van Morrison, who won one for Best Pop Collaboration for "Don't Look Back," a song he recorded with John Lee Hooker.
    1999 - Television's highly popular “Baywatch,” watched each week in more than 100 countries, began a locale change for its 1999 season by filming on location in Australia. The show starred executive producer David Hasselhoff and a brigade of red swimsuit-clad lifeguards. On this date, TV producer Greg Bonnan attended a public meeting in Avalon Beach, a beachfront Sydney suburb. Some of the 1,700 people who attended were shouting, "Don't come here, leave us alone!" and "We don't want you here!" A fifth of the town's population turned out for the meeting, which appeared to split the community between younger Baywatch fans and older people who abhorred the invasion of privacy and inconvenience that film productions bring. Many residents were angered when security guards blocked off part of the beach and banned a surfer from the area. After the unruly meeting, Bonnan said he was considering invitations from other Australian coastal towns that welcomed the chance to put their beach on television screens worldwide.
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    2003 - Financier Ralph Whitworth pays $1 million to have Paul McCartney play at his wife Wendy's 50th birthday party. McCartney presents the CNN exec with a dozen roses after singing "Birthday" to her and then, as agreed, donates the full amount to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield.
    2005 - Edward Patten of Gladys Knight and the Pips was admitted to a hospital in Detroit after a stroke.  He passed away the next day.
    2007 - Academy Awards: Best Picture:  “The Departed”- Graham King; Best Director: Martin Scorcese - “The Departed;” Best Actor:  Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin -“The Last King of Scotland;” Best Actress:  Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II -“The Queen;” Best Supporting Actor:  Alan Arkin as Edwin Hoover - “Little Miss Sunshine;” Best Supporting Actress:  Jennifer Hudson as Effie White -“Dreamgirls.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/79th_Academy_Awards
    2009 - Calling him "the soundtrack of my youth," US President Barack Obama presents Stevie Wonder with the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize.
    2011 - Researchers in Fairbanks, Alaska, discovered the remains of a 3-year old child from the Ice Age and named it Xaasaa Cheege Ts'eniin, 'Upper Sun River Mouth Child.' 
    2012 – Treasure from Spanish Navy frigate “Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes,” was returned to Spain after its recovery by Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007.
    2015 – Smartflash, a Texas technology licensing company, won a $532.9 million lawsuit against Apple for infringement of data management software patents.  Apple claimed that the patents are invalid and that it never used the technology in question.
    2016 – Major League Baseball announced rules changes: first, limiting the length of mound visits by coaches and managers, and the amount of time between innings, in order to speed up play; second, defining what constitutes a legal slide into a base. The latter is the result of a number of injuries last season to fielders attempting to complete a double play.