On Feb. 27, 1960, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)
On this date:
In 1801, the District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.
In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.
In 1844, the Dominican Republic granted independence from Haiti.
In 1860, former Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln delivered a widely acclaimed speech in which he argued against the expansion of slavery into the western territories, telling listeners at Cooper Union in New York that "right makes might."
In 1861, in Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland; five marchers were killed.
In 1902, author John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, Calif.
In 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of women to vote.
In 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.
In 1942, opening salvos were fired in the Battle of the Java Sea, during which 13 U.S. warships were sunk by the Japanese, who lost two.
In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.
In 1964, the Italian government asked for suggestions on how to save the renowned 180-foot Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling.
In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until May.)
In 1979, Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)
In 1982, Wayne B. Williams was found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young people whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period.
In 1986, the U.S. Senate approved telecasts of its debates on a trial basis.
In 1990, the Soviet Parliament approved creation of a U.S.-style presidential system that gave Mikhail Gorbachev broad new powers and established direct popular elections for the post. Also in 1990, a federal grand jury in Anchorage, Alaska, indicted Exxon Corp. and its shipping subsidiary over the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush declared that "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated," and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.
In 1994, the 17th Winter Olympic Games ended in Lillehammer, Norway.
In 1997, divorce became legal in Ireland. Legislation banning most handguns in Britain went into effect.
In 1998, Britain's House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as a first-born son. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high of 8,545.72, the first time it closed at more than 8,500.
In 1999, Nigeria's transition to civilian rule was nearly completed with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military leader, as president. The Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was convicted in Largo, Fla., of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers. (Lyons, who served nearly five years in prison, was released in 2003.)
In 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush's campaign released a letter to New York Cardinal John O'Connor in which the Republican presidential candidate said he deeply regretted "causing needless offense" by making a campaign appearance at Bob Jones University, a South Carolina school whose leaders had espoused anti-Catholic views.
In 2002, a mob of Muslims set fire to a train carrying hundreds of Hindu nationalists in Godhra, India; some 60 people died.
In 2003, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein denied Baghdad had any connection with al-Qaida or its leader Osama bin Laden and that Iraq would set fire to its oil fields and blow up its dams in response to a U.S.-led invasion. Also in 2003, Amnesty International reported that the Ivory Coast's main rebel group slaughtered dozens of Ivorian policemen and their children during an October rampage.
In 2004, America's top Catholic bishop, Wilton Gregory, declared the days of sheltering sex abusers in the priesthood were "history" as two studies commissioned by the U.S. Roman Catholic church showed at least 4 percent of priests were involved in child sexual abuse from 1950-2002, with the peak year 1970 in which one of every 10 priests eventually was accused of abuse. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked the state's top court to stop San Francisco from issuing same-sex marriage licenses until the justices could decide whether the weddings were legal. (The justices halted the weddings the following month.)
In 2005, Pope John Paul II made a surprise first public appearance after surgery, appearing at his Rome hospital window. The Iraqi government announced the capture of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, Saddam Hussein's half brother and former adviser. The United Nations took a first step aimed at curtailing worldwide smoking by announcing its tough tobacco control treaty had gone into effect.
In 2006, more than 1,300 Iraqis were reported killed in sectarian violence since the bombing of a major Shiite shrine in Baghdad.
In 2007, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, identified as the target by the Taliban, escaped injury when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside U.S. Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Twenty-three people were reported killed in the attack.
In 2008, William F. Buckley Jr., the author and conservative commentator, was found dead at his home in Stamford, Conn.; he was 82. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was considering lowering interest rates despite rising inflation and a record low dollar. Civil rights leader John Lewis dropped his support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in favor of Barack Obama. A judge in Canton, Ohio, sentenced former police officer Bobby Cutts Jr. to life in prison with a chance of parole after 57 years for killing his pregnant lover, Jessie Davis, and their unborn child.
In 2009, President Barack Obama told 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. He added that as many as 50,000 troops would remain there for smaller missions and to train Iraqi soldiers. The Rocky Mountain News ceased publishing after nearly 150 years in business. Also in 2009, revised data indicated the U.S. gross domestic product, the measure of a nation's total economic activity, shrank 6.2 percent during Oct.-Dec. 2008, biggest drop since 1982.
Today's Birthdays: Actress Joanne Woodward is 80. Actress Elizabeth Taylor is 78.
Those Born On This Date Include: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black (1886); David Sarnoff, RCA board chairman and father of American television (1891; soprano Marian Anderson (1897); actress Joan Bennett (1910); former Texas Gov. John Connally (1917); actress Mary Frann (1943).
Today In Entertainment February 27
In 1967, Pink Floyd recorded its first single, "Arnold Layne."
In 1977, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones was arrested in Toronto for drug possession. He later was found guilty.
In 1980, "What A Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers won the Record and Song of the Year Grammy Awards. The Album of the Year was "52nd Street" by Billy Joel.
In 1991, James Brown was granted parole and set free in Columbia, S.C. He had been serving time for leading police on a high-speed chase through two states.
In 1992, Elizabeth Taylor celebrated her 60th birthday by closing Disneyland for an elaborate private party with her celebrity friends.
In 1993, silent film actress Lillian Gish died at her New York home at the age of 99. Her movie career spanned 75 years.
In 2003, Fred Rogers, better known as children's entertainer Mr. Rogers, died of stomach cancer in Pittsburgh. He was 74.
In 2005, Academy Awards went to "Million Dollar Baby," director Clint Eastwood, star Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.
Thought for Today: "There is no inevitability in history except as men make it." — Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1882-1965).
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