On This Day

What Happened on February 25 in History

9 events that happened on February 25, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.

Colonial America and the Revolution

1779
British forces surrendered Fort Sackville at Vincennes to George Rogers Clark.
Clark's small force had marched for weeks through flooded country in winter to reach the post. The victory strengthened American claims to the lands northwest of the Ohio River.
Source: history.com

1863
President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act, creating a system of national banks.
The law set up federally chartered banks that issued a uniform national currency. It also created the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Source: occ.gov; millercenter.org
1870
Hiram Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first African American U.S. senator.
Revels, a minister and educator, took a Senate seat that had sat empty since Mississippi left the Union. His arrival marked a milestone of Reconstruction.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com

1913
The 16th Amendment, allowing a federal income tax, took effect.
Secretary of State Philander Knox certified that enough states had ratified it. Congress enacted an income tax later that year.
Source: archives.gov; millercenter.org

1948
Communists took control of Czechoslovakia's government.
Under heavy pressure, President Edvard Benes accepted a cabinet dominated by the Communist Party. The takeover pulled the country firmly into the Soviet bloc.
Source: history.com
1956
Nikita Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin in a secret speech to the Soviet Communist Party congress.
Speaking at a closed session of the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev attacked the cult of personality around Stalin and his abuses of power. The speech opened a period of de-Stalinization.
Source: fordham.edu
1964
Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston in Miami Beach to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
The 22-year-old challenger was a heavy underdog. Liston did not come out for the seventh round, and Clay soon took the name Muhammad Ali.
Source: history.com; npr.org
1986
Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines, ending his 20-year rule after the People Power Revolution.
Days of peaceful mass protests in Manila forced Marcos out after a disputed election. The United States quickly recognized the new government of Corazon Aquino.
Source: presidency.ucsb.edu

1994
A gunman killed Muslim worshipers at prayer in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
An Israeli settler opened fire inside the mosque at the shrine during the holy month of Ramadan. President Bill Clinton condemned the massacre that morning.
Source: presidency.ucsb.edu