Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Feb. 17. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr had tied in the Electoral College, so on this date in 1801, the House of Representatives had to choose between the two and, after 35 indecisive ballots, picked Jefferson as the third president of the United States. Burr became his vice president. Advertisement China got into the fight on this date in 1979 when it invaded Vietnam. The strike was in response to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. Apache leader Geronimo died on this day in 1909 while confined to Fort Still, Okla. Geronimo led a small band of warriors whose raids in Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico caused the U.S. Army to send 5,000 troops to recapture him after his first escape. Before he died, at about age 80, Geronimo dictated the story of his life, for publication. Advertisement Which U.S. city was the first to get gas-burning street lights? It was Baltimore, Md., on this date in 1817. And the country was introduced to Garrison Keillor on this date in 1979 when his "A Prairie Home Companion" variety show was first broadcast nationwide as part of National Public Radio's Folk Festival USA. It became a regular Saturday night show in the early 1980s. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ---------- Today is Feb. 18. In 2001, a 25-year veteran member of the FBI was charged with spying for the Russians. Robert Hanssen was arrested near his suburban Washington home. Also on this date in 2001, tragedy struck the race track. Dale Earnhardt Sr., NASCAR's top race driver, was killed in a crash in the final turn of the final lap of the Daytona 500. He was 49. Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America on this date in 1861. Davis had been the acknowledged leader of the Southern bloc and a champion of states' rights in the years before the civil war. But he had little to do with the secessionist movement until his home state of Mississippi joined the Confederacy in January 1861. He resigned his U.S. Senate seat that same day. Advertisement Pluto, the outermost and ninth planet of the solar system, was discovered on this date in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. It was not named after the Disney animated character but after the Roman god of the underworld. Actually, Pluto isn't always the furthermost planet -- its orbit is so eccentric that some years it's closer to the sun than Nepture, the eighth planet. U.S. skater Dan Jansen ended his Olympic drought on this date in 1994 with a win in the men's 1,000-meter speedskating event at the 17th Olympic Winter Games in Norway. And it was on this date in 1930 that the first cow flew in an airplane. While in flight, she was milked -- thus also becoming the first cow to be milked while flying in an airplane. We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------------- Today is Feb. 19. On this date in 1942, 10 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt authorized the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable." The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area and by June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote military internment camps scattered around the country. They did not return home for two and a half years. Advertisement At dawn on this date in 1945, U.S. Marines began landing on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima, opening one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific during World War II. The 21,500 Japanese on the island stood ready to fight to the last man. The Senate endorsed the United Nations convention against genocide on this date in 1986, 37 years after President Truman first sought approval of the accord. Better late than never. On this date in 1878, Thomas Edison patented the first gramophone. For many, many years, people often referred to a record player as a gramophone. What do you think Edison would make of today's digital recorders and CD-ROMs? In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr faced treason charges. He was arrested in Alabama and accused of plotting to annex Spanish territory in Louisiana and Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic. And China's "paramount" leader, Deng Xiaoping, died on this date in 1997. He was 92. Actually, Deng hadn't held any official titles for several years before his death, but the Chinese mourned his passing all the same. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----------------------- Today is Feb. 20. In 2002, during an Asian trip to several nations, President George W. Bush assured his listeners in Seoul, South Korea, that the United States had no intention of attacking North Korea and would support reunification efforts by the two Koreas. On this date in 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. In his Friendship 7 capsule, Glenn made three orbits before splashing down safely. In 1998, the 77-year-old Glenn, by now a Democratic Senator from Ohio, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery to test the effects of low gravity on aging. A golden date for Tara Lipinski. On this day in 1998, the 15-year-old American girl became the youngest person ever to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. On this day in 1992, a panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended limiting access to silicone gel-filled breast implants. The concern was over the effect any silicone leaking from the breast forms would have on the human body. A number of medical experts were of the opinion that it caused all sorts of health problems. Advertisement And in 1809, in a major boost for states' rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the power of the federal government was no greater than that of any individual state of the Union. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----------------------- Today is Feb. 21. It was on this date in 1965 that Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally in New York City. He was 39. The black leader had angered a number of people when he renounced the Black Muslim sect to form the Organization of Afro-American Liberty and to practice a more orthodox form of Islam. Three men were convicted in the killing of Malcolm X and sentenced to life in prison. The Nicaraguan guerrilla leader for whom the present-day Sandinistas are named was killed by members of the Nicaraguan National Guard on this date in 1934. Cesar Augusto Sandino had managed to elude the occupying force of U.S. Marines as well as Nicaragua's National Guard from 1927 until 1933. Regarded by the United States as an outlaw and bandit, Sandino was honored as a martyr by many Nicaraguans. His resistance and the resulting anti-U.S. sentiment were largely responsible for Washington's "Good Neighbor Policy" toward Latin American nations during FDR's administration. Advertisement It was considered by the U.S. government to be one of the most serious spy cases ever uncovered. On this date in 1994, longtime CIA counterintelligence officer Aldrich Ames and his wife were arrested and charged with selling information to the Soviet Union and Russia. Prosecutors said the pair probably were responsible for the death of at least 10 CIA agents whom Ames had identified for the Soviets. He was sentenced to life in prison, his wife to 63 months in return for her husband's cooperation with authorities. On this date in 1885, the 555-foot-high marble Washington Monument, saluting the first president and revolutionary hero, was dedicated in Washinton, D.C. In 1992, actor Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman, produced an anti-drug video, fulfilling his sentence on a 1991 indecent exposure charge. Reubens' arrest at a Florida adult movie theater had effectively ended his career as Pee-wee Herman. But he later surfaced in supporting roles in movies and on TV -- most notably on the sitcom "Murphy Brown." And the New Haven, Conn., Telephone Company published the first phone directory on this date in 1878. It had 50 listings. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------------------- Today is Feb. 22. A historic day in diplomatic history. It was on this date in 1972 that President Nixon arrived in Beijing in the People's Republic of China, becoming the first U.S. president to visit any country not diplomatically recognized by Washington. The visit marked a gradual warming of U.S.-Sino relations that had been in the deep freeze for many years. On this date in 1991, Iraqi troops began setting fire to dozens of oil facilities in occupied Kuwait as the Gulf War raged on. The astronauts aboard the shuttle later reported they could see the resulting smoke from orbit. Spain agreed to cede the remainder of its old province of Florida to the United States on this date in 1819. Florida was organized as a U.S. territory in 1822 and became a state in 1845. It was considered one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history. On this date in 1980, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of collegians and second-rate professional players, defeated the defending champion Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. The Soviet squad, regarded as the finest in the world, fell to the youthful American team 4-3 before a frenzied crowd of 10,000 spectators. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------------------- Today is Feb. 23. Researchers in Scotland introduced Dolly the cloned lamb to the world on this date in 1997. She was the first mammal ever successfully cloned from a cell from an adult animal, leading to widespread speculation about the possibility of cloning humans. In the first attack on the U.S. mainland, a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of California on this date in 1942 and fired 25 shells at an oil refinery near Santa Barbara. President Roosevelt was giving on of his fireside chats at the time of the attack, which caused only minor damage. Three years later, in 1945, six members of the 5th Division of the U.S. Marines planted an American flag atop Mount Suribachi on the Japanese-occupied Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Two sons-in-law of Saddam Hussein, who'd fled Iraq to exile in Jordan, returned on this date in 1996 after being pardoned and told they'd be safe back home. The next day, Saddam proved himself a liar: the men were killed following an Iraqi government announcement that their wives, Saddam's daughters, had sought and been granted divorces. Advertisement No more "For 'Masterpiece Theater,' I'm Alistair Cooke." On this day in 1993, PBS announced that the new host of "Masterpiece Theater" would be New York Times columnist and best-selling humorist Russell Baker. Cooke was retiring after 22 years. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
