On This Day in History - February 24th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, Feb. 24, the 55th day of 2019 with 310 to follow.

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

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; co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight in 1938 (age 81); former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in 1942 (age 77); actor Barry Bostwick in 1945 (age 74); actor Edward James Olmos in 1947 (age 72); musician George Thorogood in 1950 (age 69); actor Helen Shaver in 1951 (age 68); Steve Jobs, founder of the Apple computer company, in 1955; race car driver Alain Prost in 1955 (age 64); baseball Hall of Fame member Eddie Murray in 1956 (age 63); TV personality Paula Zahn in 1956 (age 63); actor Kristin Davis in 1965 (age 54); actor Billy Zane in 1966 (age 53); the Kienast quintuplets of Liberty Corner, N.J., in 1970 (age 49); author Gillian Flynn in 1971 (age 48); boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 1977 (age 42); tennis player Lleyton Hewitt in 1981 (age 38); actor Dre Davis in 1986 (age 33); actor Daniel Kaluuya in 1989 (age 30); actor/rapper O'Shea Jackson Jr., also known as OMG, in 1991 (age 28).

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 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 2018, Canada's Sebastien Toutant won the gold medal in men's big air snowboarding, the first time the sport was held in the Winter Olympics.

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."