On Feb. 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.
On this date:
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today.)
In 1803, in its Marbury v. Madison decision, the Supreme Court established judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.
In 1863, Arizona was organized as a territory.
In 1868, the first New Orleans Mardi Gras parade to include floats took place.
In 1903, the United States signed an agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
In 1920, the German Workers Party, which later became the Nazi Party, met in Munich to adopt its platform.
In 1922, Henri Landru, better known as "Bluebeard," was executed in France for killing 10 of his girlfriends.
In 1942, the Voice of America went on the air for the first time.
In 1945, American soldiers liberated the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese control.
In 1946, Argentinian men went to the polls to elect Juan D. Peron their president.
In 1970, National Public Radio was founded.
In 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated Finland, 4-2, to clinch the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.
In 1981, Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional an Indianapolis law that defined pornography as discrimination against women.
In 1988, in a ruling that expanded legal protections for parody and satire, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned a $150,000 award that the Rev. Jerry Falwell had won against Hustler magazine and publisher Larry Flynt.
In 1989, a state funeral was held in Japan for Emperor Hirohito, who had died the month before at age 87. Nine people were killed when a 10-by-40-foot section of a United Airlines Boeing 747 ripped away from the jetliner's outer skin while en route from Hawaii to New Zealand.
In 1990, magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes died in Far Hills, N.J. at age 70.
In 1991, U.S.-led forces began a lightning, multipronged ground assault against Iraq.
In 1992, General Motors announced a record $4.5 billion loss in 1991 and said it will close 21 plants and idle 74,000 workers over four years. Also in 1992, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled two designs for a commemorative stamp honoring Elvis Presley -- one showing him as a young rock-and-roll singer, the other at the height of his success in Las Vegas.
In 1995, diver Greg Louganis, who won four gold medals in the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988, revealed he had AIDS.
In 1996, Cuba shot down two unarmed planes flown by pilots belonging to a Cuban exile group who were looking for boat people to rescue.
In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration named six brands of birth control as safe and effective "morning-after" pills for preventing pregnancy. A nationally televised funeral for China's "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping was held at a military hospital in Beijing.
In 1999, the Senate voted by a lopsided 91-8 margin to approve the package that would give the military a 4.8 percent pay raise on Jan. 1, 2000. (The raise was included in the fiscal 2000 defense bill later signed by President Bill Clinton.)
In 2000, the state of Texas executed Betty Lou Beets, 62, by injection for murdering her fifth husband, after Governor George W. Bush refused to intervene. The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-drafted plan to send an observer force into Congo to monitor a fragile cease-fire. Pope John Paul II arrived in Egypt on a pilgrimage to retrace some of the most epic passages from the Bible.
In 2002, the Winter Olympics concluded at Salt Lake City with the United States winning 34 medals, 10 of them gold, its most medals in Winter Games history and one fewer than medals champ Germany.
In 2003, at least 260 people were killed in an earthquake in northwest China as the tremor flattened thousands of houses and other buildings. The quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. Also in 2003, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the U.N. Security Council declaring that Iraq's Saddam Hussein has missed a "final opportunity" to disarm peacefully.
In 2004, Democrat John Kerry defeated John Edwards by large margins in Utah and Idaho, and also won in Hawaii, where Edwards ran third behind Dennis Kucinich. President George W. Bush urged approval of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. A 6.5-magnitude earthquake devastated an isolated region of northern Morocco, killing more than 600 people.
In 2005, Pope John Paul II underwent an operation to insert a tube in his throat to relieve his breathing problems, hours after he was rushed back to the hospital for the second time in a month with flu-like symptoms.
In 2006, South Dakota lawmakers approved a ban on nearly all abortions. NASA said 2005 was the warmest year in more than a century of record-keeping. The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of emergency and ordered the arrest of military officers suspected of plotting a coup.
In 2007, a bombing near a Sunni mosque outside Baghdad killed at least 35 people, signaling an end to a downturn in sectarian violence.
In 2008, Cuba's parliament named Raul Castro president, ending nearly 50 years of rule by his brother Fidel. A suicide bomber struck Shiite Muslim pilgrims south of Baghdad, killing at least 56 people. Ralph Nader announced a fresh bid for the White House on NBC's "Meet the Press."
In 2009, in the first prime-time speech of his term, President Barack Obama appeared before Congress to sketch an agenda that began with jobs, then broadened quickly to include a stable credit system, better schools, health care reform, reliable domestic sources of energy and an end to the war in Iraq. Earlier in the day, Obama held an 80-minute private talk with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. Also in 2009, Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's militarily strategic Swat Valley agreed to a cease-fire leaving them in charge of the area near the Afghan border and about 100 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Abe Vigoda is 89. Actor Steven Hill is 88. Actor-singer Dominic Chianese is 79. Movie composer Michel Legrand is 78. Actor James Farentino is 72. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) is 68. Actor Barry Bostwick is 65. Actor Edward James Olmos is 63. Singer-writer-producer Rupert Holmes is 63. Rock singer-musician George Thorogood is 60. Actress Debra Jo Rupp is 59. Actress Helen Shaver is 59. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is 55. News anchor Paula Zahn is 54. Country singer Sammy Kershaw is 52. Singer Michelle Shocked is 48. Movie director Todd Field is 46. Actor Billy Zane is 44. Actress Bonnie Somerville is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Brandon Brown (Mista) is 27. Rock musician Matt McGinley (Gym Class Heroes) is 27.
Those Born On This Day Include: Wilhelm Grimm, historian and, with his brother Jacob, compiler of "Grimm's Fairy Tales" (1786); painter Winslow Homer (1836); John Philip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine (1841); Irish author George Moore (1852); baseball shortstop and Hall of Famer Honus Wagner (1874); Adm. Chester Nimitz, World War II commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific (1885); & actress Marjorie Main (1890).
Today In Entertainment February 24
In 1969, the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed its last British concert at London's Royal Albert Hall before breaking up.
In 1976, The Eagles' "Greatest Hits" album became the first album in the US to be certified platinum, for at least 1 million copies sold. The new award was conceived because high sales meant too many artists were winning gold records.
In 1979, the Sex Pistols released the album "The Great Rock N' Roll Swindle."
In 1988, Alice Cooper announced he was running for governor of Arizona.
In 1990, singer Johnny Ray, known for his double-sided hit "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried," died at a Los Angeles hospital of liver failure at the age of 63.
In 1991, country star Webb Pierce died. He was 65. On that same day, comedian George Gobel passed away at a southern California hospital at the age of 71. Most people remember Gobel as a regular on the "Hollywood Squares" game show.
In 1992, actress Tracy Gold went back to work on the set of the TV sitcom "Growing Pains." She had left the show to battle anorexia. Also in 1992, singer Kurt Cobain of Nirvana married singer Courtney Love of Hole in Hawaii.
In 1993, Eric Clapton won six Grammy Awards, including song and record of the year for "Tears In Heaven," the song inspired by his late son.
In 1994, comedian Garrett Morris was shot and critically wounded during a robbery attempt in Los Angeles.
In 1998, drummer Tommy Lee of Motley Crue was arrested for kicking his wife, actress Pamela Anderson Lee. She filed for divorce. He eventually served four months in prison. Also in 1998, comedian Henny Youngman died of complications from the flu. He was 91. He was known as the king of the one-liners, including "Take my wife, please." And, Elton John was knighted.
In 1999, Lauryn Hill won five Grammys for her debut solo album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," setting a record for a female artist that has since been broken by Beyonce.
In 2008, "No Country for Old Men" won the Academy Award for best picture, best director and best screenplay adaption for Joel and Ethan Coen and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem; Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for "There Will Be Blood," while Marion Cotillard was named best actress for "La Vie en Rose."
Thought for Today: "It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring." — Alfred Adler, Austrian psychoanalyst (1870-1937).
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