February 27 · This Day in America
Minnesota becomes the 36th state to ratify, and the rule is now in the Constitution: no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice. It is, in a sense, an argument with a ghost. Franklin Roosevelt had won four times, steering the country through the Depression and most of a world war, and died in office in his fourth term. Some Americans loved him for it; some feared what a permanent presidency might become. So the republic did the careful thing — not a verdict on one man, but a fence built for all who follow. George Washington had set the example by walking away after two terms when he could have stayed for life. For a century and a half it held by custom alone. Now it holds by law. Power in America is something you are loaned, briefly, and then must give back.
Source: constitutioncenter.org
Also on this day · 1960
At Squaw Valley, California, a U.S. Olympic team of college kids and amateurs — coached by a West Point officer, stocked with two sets of brothers — beats the mighty Soviet Union 3-2. The next day they take Czechoslovakia and win America's first Olympic hockey gold. Almost no one sees it; the games aren't televised. Two decades before the famous Miracle on Ice, the original miracle happens in near silence, witnessed mostly by the men who pulled it off.
Source: www.nhl.com