February 17 Birthday
On February 17, 1801, the House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson as the third President of the United States, after thirty-six ballots. Jefferson and Aaron Burr had each received 73 electoral votes — a tie. The Constitution (before the Twelfth Amendment) gave each elector two votes, and the candidate with the most became president, the runner-up vice president. Burr had been Jefferson's running mate but refused to step aside. The Federalist-controlled House had to choose between two Republicans. Alexander Hamilton, who hated Jefferson, hated Burr more. He lobbied Federalists to support Jefferson, calling Burr "a man of irregular and unsatiable ambition." Jefferson won. Hamilton's efforts to block Burr contributed to their duel three years later, in which Burr killed Hamilton. Puccini's Madama Butterfly premiered at La Scala, Milan, on this day in 1904. It was a disaster. The audience hissed, booed, and shouted insults. Puccini withdrew the opera and revised it. The revised version, performed three months later in Brescia, was a success. The initial failure may have been orchestrated by a rival publisher who had paid audience members to disrupt the performance. Madama Butterfly tells the story of a Japanese geisha abandoned by an American naval officer. It contains "Un bel dì vedremo," one of the most beautiful arias in opera, and one of the most difficult to sing. The opera's depiction of East-West relations — the casual cruelty of American power, the devotion of a woman whose culture is being erased — remains relevant. In 1972, President Nixon departed for China, a trip that ended twenty-five years of diplomatic silence between the United States and the People's Republic. The visit had been arranged in secret through Pakistan and Romania. Nixon, the anti-communist who had built his career on Red-baiting, was the only American politician who could have made the trip without being accused of being soft on communism. He met with Mao Zedong, toured the Great Wall, and signed the Shanghai Communiqué, which acknowledged that both sides agreed there was one China. The visit reshaped the Cold War by splitting the Sino-Soviet alliance further and opening the door to four decades of engagement. Michael Jordan, born this day in 1963, was cut from his high school varsity team as a sophomore. He grew four inches over the summer, made the team, and became the greatest basketball player in history. He won six NBA championships, five MVP awards, and ten scoring titles. He retired to play baseball, came back, retired again, came back again. His competitive drive was pathological — he punched teammates, gambled obsessively, and once used a perceived slight from a rival player to score 63 points against him. He is now worth $3 billion, mostly from Nike's Jordan Brand. People born on February 17 fall under the zodiac sign of Aquarius. The birthstone is Amethyst and the birth flower is Violet. Historical events on February 17 include 1801: Thomas Jefferson elected President by House after Electoral College tie with Burr, 1904: Puccini's Madama Butterfly premieres at La Scala, 1972: President Nixon departs for historic visit to China. Famous people born on February 17 include Michael Jordan (1963), Rene Russo (1954), Lou Diamond Phillips (1962).