The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s controversial film about the last 44 hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life, opens in theaters across the United States on February 25, 2004.

On February 25, 1987, the NCAA suspends the Southern Methodist University football program for 1987 season for repeated rules violations but stops short of imposing the so-called “death penalty.

In February 1986, the Philippines experienced a seismic shift in its political landscape as President Ferdinand Marcos, who had ruled the nation for two decades, fled the country amid widespread public unrest.

On February 25, 1973, Broadway experienced a musical renaissance with the opening of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" at the historic Shubert Theater.

On February 25, 1956, Sylvia Plath meets her future husband, Ted Hughes, at a party in Cambridge, UK.

In 1954, a significant political shift occurred in Egypt, marking the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser as the country's prime minister.

Under pressure from the Czechoslovakian Communist Party, President Edvard Benes allows a communist-dominated government to be organized.

On February 25, 1940, the first telecast of a National Hockey League game is transmitted over New York’s W2XBS—the National Broadcasting Company’s experimental station used to test TV technology.

In a groundbreaking move for the American transportation landscape, Oregon became the first state to impose a tax on gasoline in 1919, charging one cent per gallon.

On February 25, 1913, a significant milestone in American fiscal policy was officially recognized as Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox announced the ratification and implementation of the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution.