Today in History: Feb. 17

Today is Monday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2025. There are 317 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 17, 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.

Also on this date:

In 1863, five appointees of the Public Welfare Society of Geneva announced the formation of an “International Committee for the Relief of Wounded Combatants,” which would later be renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic was rammed and sank in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley, in the first naval attack of its kind; the Hunley also sank.

In 1897, the National Congress of Mothers, the forerunner of the National PTA, convened its first meeting in Washington with over 2,000 attendees.

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

In 1992, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of 15 counts of first-degree murder.

In 1995, Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings; he was later sentenced to 315 years in prison.

In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia.

In 2013, Danica Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any Sprint Cup race.

In 2014, Jimmy Fallon made his debut as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Brenda Fricker is 80. Actor Rene Russo is 71. Actor Richard Karn is 69. Olympic swimming gold medalist and commentator Rowdy Gaines is 66. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 63. Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan is 62. Film director Michael Bay is 60. Hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille is 59. Olympic skiing gold medalist Tommy Moe is 55. Actor Denise Richards is 54. Musician Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) is 53. Actor Jerry O’Connell is 51. Actor Jason Ritter is 45. Media personality Paris Hilton is 44. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is 44. Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is 34. Actor Jeremy Allen White is 34. Tennis player Madison Keys is 30.