MOMENTS IN TIME

• On Feb. 21, 1994, CIA operative Aldrich Ames is arrested for selling secrets to the Soviet Union. At least 10 men were killed after Ames revealed their identities, and more were sent to Russian gulags. Both Ames and his wife were later convicted. Ames was sentenced to life in prison, while his wife, as part of a plea-bargain agreement, received a five-year sentence.

• On Feb. 22, 1732, George Washington is born in Westmoreland County, Va. Part of his success in the Revolutionary War was due to his shrewd use of an "ungentlemanly," but effective, tactic of "guerrilla" warfare, in which stealthy "hit-and-run" attacks foiled British armies.

On Feb. 23, 1940, folk singer Woody Guthrie writes one of his best-known songs, "This Land Is Your Land." Guthrie died in 1967, having lived long enough to see the tune become a rallying song for the civil-rights movement.

• On Feb. 24, 1786, Wilhelm Karl Grimm, the younger of the two Brothers Grimm, is born in Hanau, Germany. The brothers' collection of oral folktales includes "Hansel and Gretel," "Snow White," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Sleeping Beauty," "Rapunzel" and "Rumpelstiltskin."

• On Feb. 25, 1890, Vlacheslav Skryabin, foreign minister for the Soviet Union who took the revolutionary name Molotov, is born in Russia. An advocate of Marxist revolution, he promoted the practice of throwing bottles filled with flammable liquid at the enemy, and the famous "Molotov cocktail" was born.

• On Feb. 26, 1972, a dam collapses in West Virginia, flooding the Buffalo Creek Valley and killing 118 people. The collapse unleashed a 20-foot wall of water that roared through 17 towns, leaving 4,000 people homeless.

• On Feb. 27, 1827, students dance through the streets of New Orleans, marking the beginning of the city's famous Mardi Gras celebrations. The students, inspired by their experiences in Paris, donned masks and jester costumes and staged their own Fat Tuesday festivities.