Today in History, 2/25

1570: Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I.
1793: George Washington holds the first Cabinet meeting as President of the United States.

1797: Colonel William Tate and his forces surrender after the Last Invasion of Britain.
1836: Samuel Colt receives a patent for the Colt Revolver.1837: Thomas Davenport, of Brandon, VT receives a patent for the first electric motor.1842: Karl May is born. He was the Zane Grey of Germany and the primary reason why there are still nonstop flights from Berlin to Phoenix.
1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels (R-MS) is sworn in as the first African-American Senator.1888: John Foster Dulles is born. He was Eisenhower's Secretary of State. He is also credited with coming up with the "rollback" plan that came in so handy for defeating the Soviet Union during the 1980's.1901: J.P. Morgan incorporates US Steel.
1901: Zeppo Marx is born.1913: Jim Backus is born. He is most famous for playing the millionaire on Gilligan's Island, but I just saw him playing another millionaire in the Tony Randall/Janet Leigh undersea comedy Hello Down There. Man, that was a weird movie. He's not in this clip, but you get the idea. That's Baby Richard Dreyfuss, in the red shirt, by the way.

1913: The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, goes into effect.
1917: Anthony Burgess is born.
1919: Oregon levies a 1 cent per gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first US state to tax gas.
1927: Bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley is born.

1928: Larry Gelbart is born. He is most well known for creating the TV version of MASH.1933: The USS Ranger is launched, becoming the first purpose-built aircraft carrier.1935: Sally Jesse Raphael is born.
1943: George Harrison is born.

1949: Wrestler Ric Flair is born. I met him one in, of all places, a hair salon in Windsor Locks, CT.1965: Carrot Top is born. I'll do everyone who reads this blog over breakfast a favor and not post the horrifying picture of him with tons of muscles and not many clothes. Some things Man was not meant to know.
1966: Tea Leoni is born.1971: Sean Astin is born. He played what's-his-name in Lord of the Rings.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.