Feb. 27
1933: Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties.
1942: The Battle of the Java Sea began during World War II; Imperial Japanese naval forces scored a decisive victory over the Allies.
1951: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms in office, was ratified.
Feb. 28
1953: Francis H.C. Crick announced that he and fellow scientist James D. Watson had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA.
1983: Nearly 106 million viewers watched the final episode of the television series “M*A*S*H. It remains the most-watched episode of any U.S. television series to date.
1993: Agents tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh in Waco, Texas on weapons charges; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.
March 1
1872: President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, making Yellowstone the nation’s first national park.
In 1932: Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped.
1961: President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps.
1971: A bomb went off inside a men’s room at the U.S. Capitol. The radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility.
March 2
1807: The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves was signed by President Thomas Jefferson.
1861: The state of Texas, having seceded from the Union, was admitted to the Confederacy.
1877: Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election.
1962: Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks, a single-game NBA record that still stands.
March 3
1849: Congress established the U.S. Department of the Interior.
1931: President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.
1991: Motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a high-speed chase in a scene captured on amateur video.
March 4
1789: The Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York.
1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his first term as president. In his inaugural speech, Roosevelt stated, “the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.”
1966: John Lennon of The Beatles was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying, “We’re more popular than Jesus now.”
March 5
1770: The Boston Massacre took place as British soldiers who’d been taunted by a crowd of colonists opened fire, killing five people.
1946: Winston Churchill delivered his “Iron Curtain” speech in which he said: “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the continent, allowing police governments to rule Eastern Europe.”
1953: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power.
1963: Country music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins died in a plane crash.
1982: Comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in Hollywood; he was 33.
