This Day in History - February 24

 

Happy birthday, Dominic "Junior Soprano" Chianese.

303:  GALERIUS PUBLISHES HIS EDICT THAT BEGINS THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

As if this happening today in the Mideast is a new thing.

484:  KING HUNERIC REMOVES THE CHRISTIAN BISHOPS FROM THEIR OFFICES AND BANISHED SOME TO CORSICA.

Ditto.

1387:  KING CHARLES III OF NAPLES AND HUNGARY IS ASSASSINATED AT BUDA.

Naples and Hungary?  That's a pairing you'd only find on a Monopoly board.

1582:  WITH THE PAPAL BULL INTER GRAVISSIMAS, POPE GREGORY XIII ANNOUNCES THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR.

Calendar available with every car wash.

1607:  L'ORFEO BY MONTEVERDI, ONE OF THE FIRST OPERAS, PREMIERES.

Let the naps begin.

1803:  IN MARBURY V. MADISON, THE SUPREME COURT OF THE US ESTABLISHES THE PRINCIPLE OF JUDICIAL REVIEW.

Marbury by TKO.

1809:  LONDON'S DRURY LANE THEATER BURNS TO THE GROUND, LEAVING OWNER RICHARD SHERIDAN DESTITUTE.

Should have called Allstate.

1815:  INVENTOR ROBERT FULTON DIES.

Folly.

1831:  THE TREATY OF DANCING RABBIT CREEK, THE FIRST REMOVAL TREATY OF INDIANS, IS PROCLAIMED.

Yeah, now you pissed them off.  Or so says John Wayne.

1848:  KING LOUIS-PHILIPPE OF FRANCE ABDICATES THE THRONE.

Mon Dieu!

1863:  ARIZONA IS ORGANIZED AS A US TERRITORY.

Good.   Just in time for spring training.

1868:  ANDREW JOHNSON BECOMES THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE US TO BE IMPEACHED BY THE HOUSE.  HE IS LATER ACQUITTED IN THE SENATE.

This happens now pretty much once a month.

1909:  NELLIE CONNALLY IS BORN.

And died in 2006.   The last one to die of those in that fateful Dallas limo.

1920:  THE NAZI PARTY IS FOUNDED.

Dues are payable...IMMEDIATELY!!!

1921: ACTOR ABE VIGODA IS BORN.

Go fish.

1931:  ACTOR DOMINIC CHIANESE IS BORN.

Also quite the Italian singer.

1942:  THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES, ONE OF THE LARGEST DOCUMENTED UFO SIGHTINGS IN HISTORY.

Meanwhile, the illegal aliens will ultimately win.

1946:  COLONEL JUAN PERON ELECTED TO HIS FIRST TERM AS PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA.

Not crying for you.

1955:  BUSINESSMAN STEVE JOBS IS BORN.

Some sort of computer guy.

1968:  VIETNAM WAR - THE TET OFFENSIVE IS HALTED.

Tet's all, folks.

1980:  THE US OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM COMPLETES ITS MIRACLE ON ICE TO WIN THE GOLD MEDAL.

A really big deal in Al Michaels' house.

1983:  A SPECIAL COMMISSION OF THE US CONGRESS RELEASES A REPORT THAT CONDEMNS JAPANESE INTERNMENT DURING WORLD WAR II.

A practice started by FDR.   I'm just saying.

1990:  BASEBALL PLAYER TONY CONIGLIARO DIES.

He never saw it coming.

1990:  PUBLISHER MALCOLM FORBES DIES.

Subscription cancelled.

1990:   SINGER JOHNNIE RAY DIES.

Now we really cry.

1991:  GAME SHOW HOST JOHN CHARLES DALY DIES.

What's his line?  "Corpse."

1991:  COMIC GEORGE GOBEL DIES.

Now he's really lonesome.

1994:  SINGER DINAH SHORE DIES.

See the USA...in a hearse.

1998:  COMIC HENNY YOUNGMAN DIES.

Take my life, please.

2006:  ACTOR DON KNOTTS DIES.

He lived two floors above me in this apartment building.

2006:  ACTOR DENNIS WEAVER DIES.

McCloud now with the clouds.

2014:  ACTOR HAROLD RAMIS DIES.

Who you gonna call?

Dinner last night:  Leftover London Broil.