Category Archives: Presidential History

February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 310 days remaining until the end of the year. By Roman custom, February 24 was doubled in a leap year in the Julian calendar.

National Tortilla Chip Day

Feb 24, 1500 was the birthday of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who once said: “I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse.”

1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States established the principle of judicial review. Judicial review is the power of the courts to examine the actions of the legislative, executive, and administrative arms of the government and to determine whether such actions are consistent with the Constitution. Actions judged inconsistent are declared unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void.

Arizona was organized as a United States territory on this day in 1863.

Andrew Johnson became the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 1868. He is later acquitted in the Senate on May 16, 1868. Per Wikipedia:

The impeachment and subsequent trial gained a historical reputation as an act of political expedience, rather than necessity, based on Johnson’s defiance of an unconstitutional piece of legislation and with little regard for the will of the public (which, despite the unpopularity of Johnson, opposed the impeachment). Until the impeachment of Bill Clinton 131 years later (which also ended in an acquittal), it was the only impeachment trial of a President in the history of the United States.

That was before the election and attempted impeachment of Donald Trump, 45th President. He was acquitted both times.

1920 – The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, was founded.

1981 Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain’s Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. They married July 29, 1981; had two sons, William in 1982 and Harry in 1984; divorced in 1996. Diana died in a car crash August 31, 1997. Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in April 2005. He became King Charles III upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, on Sept 8, 2022.

1989 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offered a US $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author, Salman Rushdie.

February 23 is:

Birthday of Samuel Pepys (February 23, 1633), English writer. The detailed private diary Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.

Birthday of George Frederic Handel (February 23, 1685), German opera composer, wrote the Messiah, heard every Easter.

Publication of Federalist Paper #60: Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788. It was suggested that the regulations could be used to promote “some favorite class of men in exclusion of others by confining the places of election to particular districts and rendering it impracticable to the citizens at large to partake in the choice”. Since the house is elected by the people, the senate by the state legislatures, and the electors of the president chosen by the people, “there would be little probability of a common interest to cement these different branches in a predilection for any particular class of electors”.

1836 – The Battle of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.

“This is the last of Earth! I am content!” were the final words spoken by John Quincy Adams , sixth President of the United States. His death on February 23, 1848 was triggered by a cerebral hemorrhage. He collapsed on the floor of the US Capitol Building while he was still serving as the representative of the District of Massachusetts.

1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.

1903 – Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.

1927 – President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.

Iwo Jima Day, anniversary of the raising of the American flag atop Mount Suribachi in 1945

1954 – The first mass innoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

February 22 is:

National Cook a Sweet Potato Day
National Margarita Day
National Cherry Pie Day

Birthday of George Washington in 1732; first President of the United States, born in Colonial Virginia.
Now commemorated on Presidents’ Day.

Publication of Federalist Paper #59: Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788. In Chapter 59, the new Constitution provided that the time, place, and manner of electing United States senators and representatives should be regulated by the state legislatures, but that the Congress could alter such regulations, “except as to places of choosing senators.”
“Every government ought to contain in itself the means of its own preservation.” If the power of regulating elections for the national government were left entirely in the hands of state legislatures, the latter would have the union entirely at their mercy.

Birthday of Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892), American poet and playwright; authored:

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!

1821 Spain sold eastern Florida to United States for $5 million. Under Spanish rule, Florida was divided by the natural separation of the Suwanee River into West Florida and East Florida. See further information about West Florida

February 22, 1862 – Jefferson Davis officially became President of the Confederate States of America.

In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opened the first of many of 5¢ and 10¢ Woolworth stores in February, 1878. The original store failed and closed in May 1878.

1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.

The inaugural Daytona 500 race was held in Daytona Beach, Fla. on this date in 1959.

2006 “Insurgents” (aka barbaric terrorists), affiliated with Al-Qaida, destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines, the Askariya Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, setting off a spasm of sectarian violence. In 2007 another al-Askari Mosque bombing destroyed the mosque’s two remaining ten-story minarets.

February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.

National Plum Pudding Day
National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

1554 – Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, was beheaded after being charged with treason.

Birthday of Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 in Boston, Mass.), a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials.

1733 – Englishman James Oglethorpe founded Georgia , the 13th colony of the original thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah.

Publication of Federalist Paper #53: The House of Representatives written by James Madison in 1788. Continuing to define the House of Representatives, Madison asserts that a one-year term is not long enough for members to learn about foreign affairs and the workings of other states. Another factor at that time was the distance needed by members to travel to the site of the federal government. Madison also addressed the issue of possible fraud within the election – that a one-year term would hardly be long enough for fraud to be discovered, investigated, and resolved within one year.

Publication of Federalist Paper #54: The Apportionment of Members Among the States written by James Madison in 1788. This paper addresses the number of representatives granted each State. The states strongly disagreed on the question of whether slaves were persons or property. If southern States counted all slaves, their representation in Congress would increase but so would their share of the government’s tax load. Northern States would argue if slaves are property, they should be counted in estimates of taxation which are founded on property but excluded from representation based on census. The Founders reached a compromise by establishing the 3/5 rule for slaves. The Compromise was accepted in order to get the southern states to ratify the Constitution.

Birthday of Charles Robert Darwin ((February 12, 1809), English naturalist and geologist best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. Author of “On the Origin of the Species“.

Birthday of Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809), sixteenth President of the United States. On this date in 1892, President Lincoln’s birthday was declared to be a national holiday in the U.S. (Now celebrated on Presidents’ Day, Feb 17th, 2020) And on February 12, 1915, the cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, DC.

1999 – President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.

National Homemade Soup Day

National Stuffed Mushroom Day

On February 4, 1789 George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

In 1794 the French legislature abolished slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic. Slavery was reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.

1846 – The first Mormon pioneers made their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Utah Territory. In late 1839, Mormons bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith, who led the Latter Day Saints, to escape religious persecution in Missouri.

After Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, continuing violence from surrounding non-Mormons forced most Latter-Day Saints to leave Nauvoo. Most of these refugees, led by Brigham Young, eventually emigrated to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

American Civil War (1861): In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states met and formed the Confederate States of America.

Birthday of Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902), American aviator who flew solo across the Atlantic in 1927.

World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opened at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea on February 4, 1945. Roosevelt died two months later.

1992 – A coup d’état was led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice).

National Carrot Cake Day

Anniversary of the issuance of the first paper money in the U.S. in 1690.

1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crushed the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.

1809 – The Illinois Territory was created.

Birthday of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (February 3, 1809), German composer, pianist, and conductor. His “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream was played at the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Victoria, The Princess Royal, to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia in 1858, and it remains popular at marriage ceremonies.

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to citizens regardless of race.

Amendment XV
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

According to Wikipedia:

The amendment had been voted on in the House where the vote was 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it, some because they thought the amendment did not go far enough in its protections.

The Senate passed the amendment with a vote of 39 Republican votes of “Yea”, 8 Democrat and 5 Republican votes of “Nay”; 13 Republican and 1 Democrat not voting.

1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

Amendment XVI

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Little Known Fact: The first U.S. tax code, as enacted in 1913, was about 400 pages long. Today, the law regulating the assessment and collection of federal income tax spans over 70,000 pages.

1924-Death of Woodrow Wilson (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson), twenty-eighth President of the United States. He died at Washington, D. C. at age 67 following a stroke. He is interred at the Washington National Cathedral

February 3, 1959 – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson Jr.) died in a plane crash in Iowa on the “Day The Music Died“

Per Wikipedia: The Winter Dance Party tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel created logistical problems, as the distance between venues had not been considered when scheduling each performance. Adding to the problem, the unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with dire consequences. Holly’s drummer Carl Bunch suffered frostbite to his toes (while aboard the bus) and was hospitalized, so Buddy Holly made the decision to find another means of transportation. Before their performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane at Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, for himself, Waylon Jennings, and Tommy Allsup, to avoid the long bus trip to their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Following the Clear Lake show (which ended around midnight), Allsup lost a coin toss and gave up his seat on the charter plane to Ritchie Valens, while Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from the flu and complaining about how cold and uncomfortable the tour bus was for a man of his size. When Holly learned that his band mates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, a friendly banter between Holly and Jennings ensued, and it would come back to haunt Jennings for decades to follow: Holly jokingly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” Less than an hour and a half later, shortly after 1:00 AM on February 3, 1959 (later known as The Day the Music Died), Holly’s charter plane crashed at full throttle into a cornfield outside Mason City, Iowa, instantly killing all on board…For decades afterward, Jennings repeatedly admitted that he felt responsible for the crash that killed Buddy Holly.

January 30 is:

National Inane Answering Message Day

National Croissant Day

1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England was ritually executed two years after his death, on the anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.

According to Wikipedia:

Cromwell died on Friday, 3 September 1658. On 30 January 1661, (the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I), Cromwell’s body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution, as were the remains of Robert Blake, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton…. His disinterred body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, and then thrown into a pit. Cromwell’s severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. Afterwards it allegedly was owned by various people and was publicly exhibited several times. Afterwards, the head changed hands several times, including its sale in 1814 to Josiah Henry Wilkinson, before eventually being buried beneath the floor of the antechapel at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960. The exact position was not publicly disclosed…

However, many people began to question whether or not the body mutilated at Tyburn was in fact that of Cromwell. These doubts arose because it was assumed that between his death in September 1658 and the exhumation of January 1661, Cromwell’s body was buried and reburied in several places to protect it from vengeful royalists. The stories suggest that his bodily remains are buried in London, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire or Yorkshire. It continues to be questioned whether the body mutilated at Tyburn was in fact that of Oliver Cromwell.

Publication of Federalist Paper #47: The Particular Structure of the New Government and the Distribution of Power Among Its Different Parts written by James Madison in 1788. It was argued that there must be total separation between the branches of government per writings by Montesquieu. Madison concludes by implying Montesquieu did not mean there had to be total separation of distinct branches of government only that the same person or group could not directly control the actions of more than one branch. Madison considers separation of powers to provide “checks and balances”. He examines the state constitutions and finds that none have absolute separation of the branches.

1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house-painter from England, attempted to shoot President Andrew Jackson, but failed and was subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen. He aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. Historians believe the humid weather contributed to the double misfiring. Lawrence was restrained, and legend says that Jackson attacked Lawrence with his cane. Others present, including David Crockett, restrained and disarmed Lawrence.

In 1847 Yerba Buena, (good herb) California was renamed San Francisco. (“I left my heart in Yerba Buena” has a pleasant ring to it!) San Francisco was called Yerba Buena because of a fragrant, mint-like herb (Clinopodium douglasii) that grew abundantly in the area,… and was used for tea and medicine by native Ohlone people and early settlers. The Spanish named the area and its bay anchorage “Yerba Buena,” and the settlement that grew there retained the name until it was officially changed to San Francisco in 1847.
“The name was officially changed to San Francisco on January 30, 1847, for two primary reasons:

International Recognition: The town’s American alcalde (mayor), Lieutenant Washington Allon Bartlett, noted that the name “Yerba Buena” was only known locally. International maps already labeled the area as “San Francisco,” named for the nearby mission and bay; changing the town’s name allowed it to take advantage of this existing global recognition.
A Rivalry with “Francisca”: A competing town being planned nearby (at the mouth of the Sacramento River) was intended to be named Francisca to capitalize on the bay’s fame. By quickly claiming the name “San Francisco,” Bartlett effectively eclipsed the rival town before it could establish its identity. As a result, the other town was renamed Benicia, after the middle name of the same noblewoman it was originally trying to honor.”

The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched in 1862.

Birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882), thirty-second president of the United States

Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.

Birthday of Richard Bruce (Dick) Cheney (January 30, 1941), vice-president during the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009). VP Cheney died Nov 3, 2025.

On January 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.

1959 – Danish liner, MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, killing all 95 aboard.