This Day in History for February 17

, 1897, the forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, convened its first meeting, in Washington.


On this date:

In 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.

In 1809, the Ohio legislature voted to establish Miami University in present-day Oxford. (The school opened in 1824.)

In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic was rammed and sunk in Charleston Harbor, S.C., by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley, which also sank.

In 1865, Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in. (It's not clear which side set the blaze.)

In 1904, the original two-act version of Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" was poorly received at its premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy.

1909, Chiricahua (chi-rih-KAH'-wuh) Apache leader Geronimo (also known as Goyathlay, "One Who Yawns") died at Fort Sill, Okla., at age 79.

In 1947, the Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.

In 1959, the United States launched Vanguard 2, a satellite which carried meteorological equipment on board.

In 1964, the Supreme Court, in Wesberry v. Sanders, ruled that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.