On This Day in History - February 25th - Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2020 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 French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1841; Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso in 1873; U.S. statesman John Foster Dulles in 1888; actor Herbert "Zeppo" Marx in 1901; British writer Anthony Burgess in 1917; tennis Hall of Fame member Bobby Riggs in 1918; producer/writer Larry Gelbart in 1928; talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael in 1935 (age 85); actor Tom Courtenay in 1937 (age 83); actor Diane Baker in 1938 (age 82); former Beatle George Harrison in 1943; wrestler Ric Flair in 1949 (age 71); director Neil Jordan in 1950 (age 70); sportscaster James Brown in 1951 (age 69); comedian Carrot Top, born Scott Thompson, in 1965 (age 55); actor Tea Leoni in 1966 (age 54); actor Sean Astin in 1971 (age 49); actor Anson Mount in 1973 (age 47); actor Chelsea Handler in 1975 (age 45); actor Rashida Jones in 1976 (age 44); actor James Phelps in 1986 (age 34); actor Oliver Phelps in 1986 (age 34); actor Jameela Jamil in 1986 (age 34); actor Isabelle Fuhrman in 1997 (age 23).

On this date in history:

In 1791, the First Bank of the U.S. at Philadelphia became the first national bank chartered by Congress.

In 1836, Samuel Colt patented a "revolving gun," the first of the six-shooters.

In 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Miss., was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American to sit in Congress.

In 1901, the United States Steel Corp. was founded by J.P. Morgan.

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

In 1951, the inaugural Pan American Games began in Buenos Aires.

In 1964, brash underdog Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) stunned the boxing world with a TKO of Sonny "the Bear" Liston, winning the world heavyweight championship.

In 1984, a gasoline pipeline burst, spewing thousands of gallons of fuel that ignited and engulfed an illegal shanty town near Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing hundreds of people.

In 1986, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos left his Manila palace for Hawaii, ending 20 years in power.

In 1990, Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate for the presidency of Nicaragua, scored an upset victory over President Daniel Ortega, leader of the leftist Sandinista Liberation Front.

In 1991, the Warsaw Pact nations signed an agreement to dissolve the alliance after 36 years.

In 1994, 32 Muslim worshippers were killed by a Jewish settler who opened fire with an automatic weapon in the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank town of Hebron. The settler was overpowered and beaten to death.

In 2005, authorities arrested Dennis Rader, a municipal employee and church leader, for the so-called BTK (blind, torture, kill) serial killings that terrorized Wichita, Kan. Rader was convicted and sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms.

In 2019, movie review website Rotten Tomatoes announced changes to the way it rates movies after online trolls intentionally lowered scores for the movie Captain Marvel.

A thought for the day: American comedian Jay Leno said, "When you work with your hands, you learn to appreciate how easy it is to earn money talking."