February 24

1582 – With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.

1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States officially establishes the principle of judicial review.

1831 – Under terms of The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, the Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.

1863 – Arizona is organized as a Territory.

1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President to be impeached by the  House of Representatives.

1917 – The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter Hines Page, is given a copy of the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico, if Mexico declares war on the United States.

1920 – The NAZI (National Socialist German Workers’ Party –Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – NSDAP) party is founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany

1942 – A false alarm, late in the day of attacking Japanese bombers leads to an anti aircraft barrage over the city of Los Angeles that lasts into the early hours of February 25.

1944 – The 5307th Composite Unit ” Merrill’s Marauders” begin their 1,000-mile journey through Japanese occupied Burma to attack an airfield at Myitkyina.

1984 – Opening fire from the 2nd floor room of a house across the street from the 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, Tyrone Mitchell kills 1 student and wounds 13 more, with one dying 18 days later, before killing himself after a police swat team enters the house.

1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747, bound for New Zealand  from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing 9 passengers out of the business-class section before returning to Honolulu and landing without further incident

1991 – Having diverted a large percentage of their troops to defend against a threatened amphibious attack on their positions in Kuwait, Iraqi forces are caught off guard as Coalition ground forces cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, beginning the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm

1996 – 2 civilian airplanes operated by the Miami based group Brothers to the Rescue, are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force killing all 2 crew aboard each plane.

2015 – A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.

2022 – Days after recognizing the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders a full scale invasion of Ukraine.