February 27th, 1991: In a scary harbinger of things to come from his son, President George H.W. Bush  (the Elder Bush who was legally elected, as embarrassing as that is to admit) declares an American Victory in the Gulf War, that would be the first war in Iraq.

Bush the Elder leaves Iraq in such a mess, and under the dictatorial thumb of Saddam Hussein (his advisers pressed him to complete the push to Bagdad and dispatch Hussein but Bush the Elder nixed the plan), that 12 years later, his baby boy — Bush the Younger — sends thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians to their deaths to “right the wrong.”

In perhaps the most misplaced and disgusting display of hubris by any “president” (Bush the Younger was never legally elected), on May 1, 2003, George W. Bush declared Victory in Iraq, a declaration followed by five more years of death and devasatation … and still counting.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — February 27th

• 1813: First U.S. federal vaccination legislation enacted 
• 1814: Beethoven’s 8th symphony premieres 
• 1933: Nazis set fire to the Reichstag, the German parliament, and blame it on Communists 
• 1951: With its passage by Minnesota, the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, limiting the duration a U.S. President can serve to two terms of office 
• 1970: NY Times (falsely) reports U.S. army has ended domestic surveillance 
• 1985: Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief 
• 1991: President George H.W. Bush declares a cease-fire, halting the Gulf War 
• 1997: Divorce becomes legal in Ireland 
• 1997: Legislation banning most handguns in Britain went into effect.
•   2002: A mob of Muslims set fire to a train carrying hundreds of Hindu nationalists in Godhra, India; some 60 people died.
•  2007: A suicide bomber strikes Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan during a visit by vice president Dick Cheney

BORN ON THIS DAY — February 27th

•   289: Constantine the Great, Roman emperor
• 1807: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  poet
• 1861: Rudolf Steiner, philosopher  
• 1886: Hugo L Black,  78th Supreme Court justice 
• 1891: David Sarnoff, TV pioneer
• 1902: John Steinbeck,, author
• 1904: James Thomas Farrell, author
• 1912: Lawrence Durrell, novelist/poet
• 1913: Irwin Shaw, novelist
• 1930: Joanne Woodward, actress
• 1932: Elizabeth Taylor, actress 
• 1934: Ralph Nader, consumer advocate
• 1940: Howard Hesseman,  actor 
• 1962: Adam Baldwin,  actor 
• 1973: “Pooh” Clark, rocker 
• 1975: Christina Nigra, actress
• 1981: Chelsea Clinton, daughter of President Clinton