Saturday, March 1, 2025 — the 60th day of 2025. There are 304 days left in the year.
On this day in history:
1961: President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order creating the Peace Corps. Since its founding, more than 240,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers around the world.
1872: President Ulysses S. Grant approved the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, establishing Yellowstone as the United States’ first national park.
1932: The 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., was kidnapped from the family home in East Amwell Township, New Jersey. Remains later identified as those of the child were recovered two months afterward.
1954: Four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the visitors’ gallery in the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress.
1966: The Soviet probe Venera 3 became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet when it impacted Venus, though its communications failed and no data were returned.
1971: A bomb exploded in a men’s room at the U.S. Capitol in a pre-dawn blast claimed by the Weather Underground; the building was damaged but no one was injured.
1974: A grand jury indicted seven people, including former Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell, and Robert Mardian, on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. Several were later convicted; Mardian’s conviction was reversed on appeal.
2005: Dennis Rader, accused of being the BTK serial killer, was charged in Wichita, Kansas, with 10 counts of first-degree murder; he later pleaded guilty and received multiple life sentences.
Notable birthdays observed on this date:
Roger Daltrey (rock singer), 81
Dirk Benedict (actor), 80
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), 74
Ron Howard (filmmaker), 71
Tim Daly (actor), 69
Ron Francis (Hockey Hall of Famer), 62
Zack Snyder (filmmaker), 59
Javier Bardem (actor), 56
Yolanda Griffith (Basketball Hall of Famer), 55
Chris Webber (Basketball Hall of Famer), 52
Mark-Paul Gosselaar (actor), 51
Jensen Ackles (actor), 47
Lupita Nyong’o (actor), 42
Kesha (pop singer), 38
Justin Bieber (pop singer), 31
