Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Today is the 51st day of 2025.  There are 314 days left in this year.

Notable Events

1792
President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.
1809
The Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.
1839
Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.
1933
The House of Representatives completed congressional action on an amendment to repeal Prohibition.
1938
Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary in a dispute with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
1944
During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."
1962
Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.
1965
The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.
1981
Space shuttle Columbia cleared the final major hurdle to its maiden launch by firing fired its three engines in a 20-second test.
1987
A bomb blamed on the Unabomber exploded behind a computer store in Salt Lake City, seriously injuring a store executive.
1993
Police in Liverpool, England, charged two 10-year-old boys with the abduction and slaying of toddler James Bulger, a crime that shocked the country and terrified parents. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were later convicted.
1998
Tara Lipinski of the U.S. won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, becoming at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history; Michelle Kwan won the silver.
1999
The United States and five other nations agreed to extend by three days the deadline for a Kosovo peace agreement. (NATO had threatened airstrikes against the Serbs if they did not reach an agreement with Albanian insurgents.)
2003
Fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.
2005
Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death at age 67.

Notable Births

1899
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman
1902
Ansel Adams, American photographer.
1924
Gloria Vanderbilt, Fashion designer
1927
Sidney Poitier, Actor
1942
Phil Esposito, Hockey Hall of Famer
1946
Sandy Duncan, Actress
1946
J. Geils, Rock musician
1963
Charles Barkley, Basketball Hall of Famer
1966
Cindy Crawford, Model

Notable Deaths

1790
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II
1895
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass died in Washington, D.C.
1999
Movie reviewer Gene Siskel died at a hospital outside Chicago at age 53.