Today in History for Feb. 25, 2013

Today is Monday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2013. There are 309 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Feb. 25, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

On this date:

In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

In 1862, Nashville, Tenn., became the first Confederate state capital to be occupied by the North during the Civil War.

In 1901, United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

In 1913, character actor Jim Backus, who played Thurston Howell III on “Gilligan’s Island” and voiced the cartoon character Mr. Magoo, was born in Cleveland.

In 1922, French serial killer Henri Landru, convicted of murdering 10 women and the son of one of them, was executed in Versailles.

In 1943, Allied troops reoccupied the Kasserine Pass after clashing with German troops during World War II.

In 1950, “Your Show of Shows,” starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, debuted on NBC-TV.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. South Carolina, upheld 8-1 the right of civil rights demonstrators to peacefully protest outside the South Carolina State House.

In 1973, the Stephen Sondheim musical “A Little Night Music” opened at Broadway’s Shubert Theater.

In 1983, playwright Tennessee Williams was found dead in his New York hotel suite; he was 71.

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Ten years ago: Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President George W. Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to “fool the world one more time.” Roh Moo-hyun became South Korea’s new president.

Five years ago: An Associated Press photograph of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wearing traditional local garb during a 2006 visit to Kenya began circulating on the Internet. The New York Philharmonic arrived in North Korea to perform a concert, the same day Lee Myung-bak was sworn in as South Korea’s first conservative president in a decade.

One year ago: A gunman killed two American military advisers with shots to the back of the head inside Afghanistan’s heavily guarded Interior Ministry as protests raged for a fifth day over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. army base. Lynn D. “Buck” Compton, 90, a veteran whose World War II exploits were depicted in the television miniseries “Band of Brothers,” died in Burlington, Wash.

Today’s birthdays: Country singer Ralph Stanley is 86. Actor Tom Courtenay is 76. CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 76. Actress Diane Baker is 75. Actress Karen Grassle is 71. Humorist Jack Handey is 64. Movie director Neil Jordan is 63. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 56. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 54. Actress Veronica Webb is 48. Actor Alexis Denisof is 47. Actress Tea Leoni is 47. Comedian Carrot Top is 46. Actress Lesley Boone is 45. Actor Sean Astin is 42. Singer Daniel Powter is 42. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Justin Jeffre is 40. Rock musician Richard Liles is 40. Actor Anson Mount is 40. Comedian-actress Chelsea Handler is 38. Actress Rashida Jones is 37. Actor Justin Berfield is 27. Actors James and Oliver Phelps (“Harry Potter” movies) are 27. Rock musician Erik Haager (Carolina Liar) is 26.

Thought for today: “If people behaved in the way nations do they would all be put in straitjackets.” — Tennessee Williams (1911-1983).