February 28
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Featured Event
© Columbia Broadcasting System
Series finale of M*A*S*H
On this day in 1983, the U.S. tuned in to watch the finale of the long-running television series M*A*S*H. The show, set in South Korea, is told from the perspective of a surgeon who served in the Korean War. Though M*A*S*H started on a comedic note, it eventually grew more heavy and thoughtful, thus establishing the “dramedy” genre. The finale, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” remains the most-watched episode of scripted television in history, with 106 million people watching. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© PixAchi/Shutterstock.com
American architect and designer Frank O. Gehry—renowned worldwide for his original, sculptural, and often audacious work, including the curvaceous Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain—was born in Toronto on this day in 1929.
Famous Birthdays
More on February 28
© Fatemeh Bahrami—Anadolu/Getty Images
2026
The United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran, killing Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks across the region. [Explore a timeline of U.S.-Iran relations since 1953.]
© Gasper Furman/Shutterstock.com
2013
Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. His final public address was attended by more than 50,000 people. [Test your knowledge of popes.]
U.S. Department of Defense
1991
The Persian Gulf War, an international conflict that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, ended when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was forced to accept a ceasefire agreement.
©Deanpictures/Dreamstime.com
1986
Olof Palme, the internationally prominent prime minister of Sweden (1969–76, 1982–86) whose strong pacifist beliefs included opposition to the Vietnam War, was assassinated.
© PA Images/Getty Images
1975
A train crashed at the Moorgate station in London, killing 43 people and injuring many more, making it the London Underground’s deadliest peacetime disaster. Today, all dead-end stops on the London Underground are fitted with a Moorgate control, a device that automatically stops the train if a driver fails to do so.
© Pictures from History—Universal Images Group/Getty Images
1947
A day after a vendor was assaulted by a government agent in Taipei, protests against the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) spread across Taiwan. Known as the 228 Incident, the uprising was violently suppressed, resulting in thousands dead and decades of martial law. [Learn more about martial law]
© Rachmattt/stock.adobe.com
1942
During World War II, Japanese troops landed on the island of Java, which they occupied until 1945. [Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1922
Egypt declared its independence, ending the British protectorate, but Britain continued to have a say in certain governmental matters. [Test your knowledge of Egypt.]
A.F. Archive/Alamy
1906
Gangster Bugsy Siegel was born in Brooklyn, New York. He played an important role in the development of Las Vegas gambling. [Take our mobster names quiz.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (cph 3b24095)
1901
Linus Pauling—who received two Nobel Prizes, one for Chemistry in 1954 and another for Peace in 1962—was born in Portland, Oregon. [How much do you know about the Nobel Prize?]
Courtesy of CSX Transportation Inc.
1827
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first steam-operated railway in the United States to be chartered as a common carrier of freight and passengers. [Watch: How Chinese immigrants built the Transcontinental Railroad.]