The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s controversial film about
the last 44 hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life, opened in theaters
across the United States on February 25, 2004. Not coincidentally,
the day was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Catholic season of
Lent.

The star of action-packed blockbusters like the Lethal Weapon
series and Braveheart, Gibson was earning more than $20 million
per movie at the time he decided to direct The Passion of the
Christ, for which he received no cash compensation.

        Jim Caviezel                         Mel Gibson

Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 11 articles of
impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, nine
of which cite Johnson’s removal of Secretary of War
Edwin M. Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

The House vote made President Johnson, the 17th President
of the United States of America, the first president to be
impeached in U.S. history.

Newspaper illustration of the impeachment hearing for
President Andrew Johnson.

On February 24, 1836, in San Antonio, Texas, Colonel William
Travis issued a call for help on behalf of the Texan troops
defending the Alamo, an old Spanish mission and fortress
under siege by the Mexican army.

Though Santa Ana’s 5,000 troops heavily outnumbered the
several hundred Texans, Travis and his men determined
not to give up. On February 24, they answered Santa Ana’s
call for surrender with a bold shot from the Alamo’s cannon.

Furious, the Mexican general ordered his forces to launch a
siege. Travis immediately recognized his disadvantage and
sent out several messages via couriers asking for some
reinforcements. Addressing one of the pleas to “The People
of Texas and All Americans in the World,” Travis signed off
with the now-famous phrase “Victory or Death.” 

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009)