TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 24
303 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued by Emperor Diocletian
786 Pepin the Short of Gaul dies. His dominions are divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.
1525 In the first of the Wars, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V captures the French king Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, Italy.
1582 Pope Gregory XIII orders the introduction of the Gregorian calendar
1803 Chief Justice John Marshall, by refusing to rule on the case of Marbury vs. Madison, asserts the authority of the judicial branch.
1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain.
1836 Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo with its 182 Texan defenders.
1868 US House of Representatives vote 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson
1903 The United States signed a leasing agreement between the US and Cuba , acquiring Guantanamo Bay a naval station at the southeastern end in Cuba.
1908 Japan officially agrees to restrict emigration to the U.S.
1912 The Jewish organization Hadassah is founded in New York City.
1920 The German nazi party is founded. Adolf Hitler became the party’s leader in 1921.
1921 Herbert Hoover becomes Secretary of Commerce.
1942 The U.S. Government stopped shipments of all 12-gauge shotguns for sporting use for the wartime effort.
1942 Los Angeles sightings on this day called by the contemporary press “Battle of Los Angeles”, a Plane / Blimp / Weather Balloon / UFO is fired on with a massive anti-aircraft artillery barrage but is not hit, Air raid sirens were sounded throughout Los Angeles County at 2:25 a.m. and a total blackout was ordered
1942 The Voice of America goes on the air for the first time under the Office of War Information with news programs aimed at Japan, the south Pacific, and to areas of Europe and North Africa under the occupation of Nazi Germany.
1944 Merrill’s Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, begin their ground campaign against Japan into Burma.
1959 Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for the Big Four meeting on Germany.
1983 A U.S.congressional commission released a report that condemned the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
1988 The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award to Rev. Jerry Falwell that had been won against “Hustler” magazine. The ruling expanded legal protections for parody and satire.
1991 General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sends in ground forces during the Gulf War.
1997 The FDA name six brands of birth control as safe and effective “morning-after” pills for preventing pregnancy.
2007 The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution expressing “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
