February 27th

Today's Highlight in History:
On February 27th, 1960, the US Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, three goals to two, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California. (The US team went on to win the gold medal.)

On this date:
In 1801, the District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.

In 1861, in Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland; five marchers were killed.

In 1922, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote.

In 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, caught fire. The Nazis, blaming the Communists, used the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties.

In 1939, the Supreme Court outlawed sit-down strikes.

In 1972, President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China.

In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until May.)

In 1982, Wayne B. Williams was found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period.

In 1997, divorce became legal in Ireland.

Ten years ago: The Supreme Court ruled that prison officials could force inmates to take powerful anti-psychotic drugs without a judge's consent.

Five years ago: Court-appointed salvagers swarmed into Britain's oldest investment bank to evaluate the remaining assets of Barings PLC after Nick Leeson, a 28-year-old trader, ruined the firm by gambling on Tokyo stock prices.

One year ago: The Reverend Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, was convicted in Largo, Florida, of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers. Nigerians voted to elect Olusegun Obasanjo their new president as the country marked the final phase of its return to democracy.

"All that is human must be retrograde if it does not advance."

-- Edward Gibbon, English historian (1737-1794).