On Feb. 17, 1621, Miles Standish was named military captain of the Pilgrim colony in Plymouth, Mass.
In 1801, the House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr and elected Jefferson president. Burr became vice president.
In 1817, Baltimore became the first American city to have a street illuminated by gas light.
In 1864, during the Civil War, the Confederate submersible ship H.L. Hunley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic off Charleston, S.C. The Hunley sank as well.
In 1897, 2,000 people attended a meeting in Washington to organize the National Congress of Mothers, the forerunner of the Parent-Teacher
Association.
In 1923, the treasure-filled tomb of Tutankhamen was opened by archeologists in Egypt`s Valley of the Kings.
In 1944, American forces made an amphibious landing on Japanese-held Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.
In 1964, the Supreme Court issued its ”one-man, one-vote” ruling, declaring that congressional districts in each state must be relatively equal in population.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon left for Peking on a trip that would result in establishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and the communist government of China.
In 1979, Chinese troops struck against Vietnam along much of the two countries` 480-mile border.
