On This Day in History - February 24th - Almanac

Today is Saturday, Feb. 24, the 55th day of 2018 with 310 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. Evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Wilhelm Grimm, historian and, with his brother Jacob, compiler of Grimm's Fairy Tales, in 1786; painter Winslow Homer in 1836; Irish author George Moore in 1852; Adm. Chester Nimitz, World War II commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, in 1885; actor Marjorie Main in 1890; actor Abe Vigoda in 1921; composer Michel Legrand in 1932 (age 86); co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight in 1938 (age 80); former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., in 1942 (age 76); actor Barry Bostwick in 1945 (age 73); actor Edward James Olmos in 1947 (age 71); musician George Thorogood in 1950 (age 68); actor Helen Shaver in 1951 (age 67); Steve Jobs, founder of the Apple computer company, in 1955; race car driver Alain Prost in 1955 (age 63); baseball Hall of Fame member Eddie Murray in 1956 (age 62); TV personality Paula Zahn in 1956 (age 62); actor Kristin Davis in 1965 (age 53); actor Billy Zane in 1966 (age 52); the Kienast quintuplets of Liberty Corner, N.J., in 1970 (age 48); boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 1977 (age 41); tennis player Lleyton Hewitt in 1981 (age 37); actor Dre Davis in 1986 (age 32); actor/rapper O'Shea Jackson Jr., also known as OMG, in 1991 (age 27).

On this date in history:

In 1803, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Marbury v. Madison decision, ruled the power of the federal government was no greater than that of any individual state.

In 1868, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln, was impeached by the U.S. House. Johnson, the first U.S. president to be impeached, was acquitted by a single vote three weeks later, ending a three-week trial in the Senate.

In 1916, under the eyes of the Kaiser, the German Crown Prince Wilhelm and his army smashed their way toward the fortress of Verdun, in France.

In 1922, Henri Landru, better known as Bluebeard, was executed in France for killing 10 of his girlfriends.

In 1933, Japan shocked the world, withdrawing from the League of Nations.

In 1945, U.S. troops took the Philippines capital of Manila from the Japanese.

In 1946, Juan Peron was elected president of Argentina.

In 1968, South Vietnam recapture the city of Hue, as the Tet Offensive comes to an end after 25 days of brutal combat.

In 1981, Britain's Prince Charles announced his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer.

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court defended the right to satirize public figures when it voted 8-0 to overturn a $200,000 settlement awarded the Rev. Jerry Falwell over a parody of him in Hustler magazine.

In 1989, nine people were killed when a 10-by-40-foot section of a United Airlines 747 ripped away from the jetliner's outer skin on a flight from Hawaii to New Zealand.

In 1991, after weeks of airstrikes, U.S.-led coalition forces began a ground campaign into Kuwait and southern Iraq as part of the Gulf War.

In 1992, General Motors announced a record $4.5 billion loss in 1991 and said it would close 21 plants and idle 74,000 workers over four years.

In 1995, diver Greg Louganis, who won four gold medals in the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988, revealed he had AIDS during an interview on ABC's 20/20. News of his revelation hit the news days earlier.

In 2004, an earthquake struck Morocco, killing about 600 people and injuring hundreds more.

In 2006, Emmy-winning comic star Don Knotts, best known as Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, died of lung cancer. He was 81.

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.

In 2013, Raul Castro, 81, beginning a second five-year term as president of Cuba, said, "I would like to make clear ... this will be my last term."

A thought for the day: Marian Anderson, in forgiving the Daughters of the American Revolution for withdrawing an invitation to perform because she was African American, said, "You lose a lot of time hating people."