Today in History: February 25, Muhammad Ali wins heavyweight title

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2026. There are 309 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 25, 1964, Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing champion for the first time as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.

Also on this date:

In 1870, Republican Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as a U.S. senator, becoming the first African American member of either house of Congress.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

In 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev railed for hours against the brutality and “cult of personality” of his late predecessor, dictator Josef Stalin, in a speech to a Communist Party congress.

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; opposition leader Corazon Aquino — the first woman to lead the country — assumed the presidency.

In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 American soldiers were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

In 1994, American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers.

In 1997, a jury in Media, Pennsylvania, convicted chemical fortune heir John E. du Pont of third-degree murder, deciding he was mentally ill when he shot and killed world-class wrestler David Schultz. (Du Pont died in prison in December 2010 while serving a 13- to 30-year sentence; he was 72.)

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