This day in history

[February 22, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2011. There are 312 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Feb. 22, 1732 (New Style date), the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.

On this date:

In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left New York for the Far East to trade goods with China.

In 1810, according to some sources, Polish composer Frederic Chopin was born. (Chopin, however, claimed March 1 as his birthday.)

In 1862, Jefferson Davis, already the provisional president of the Confederacy, was inaugurated for a six-year term following his election in Nov. 1861.

In 1909, the Great White Fleet, a naval task force sent on a round-the-world voyage by President Theodore Roosevelt, returned after more than a year at sea.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first radio broadcast from the White House as he addressed the country over 42 stations.

In 1940, the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) was enthroned at age four in Lhasa, Tibet.

In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.

In 1973, the United States and China agreed to establish liaison offices.

In 1980, the "Miracle on Ice" took place in Lake Placid, N.Y., as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

In 1984, 12-year-old David Vetter, who'd spent most of his life in a plastic bubble because he had no immunity to disease, died 15 days after being removed from the bubble for a bone-marrow transplant.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush held his first full-fledged presidential news conference, in which he defended his tax-cutting and budget-tightening plans and gave FBI director Louis Freeh a vote of confidence following the arrest of veteran agent Robert Hanssen on spying charges. A U.N. war crimes tribunal convicted three Bosnian Serbs standing trial on charges of rape and torture in the first case of wartime sexual enslavement to go before an international court.

Five years ago: Insurgents destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines, the Askariya mosque in Samarra, setting off an unprecedented spasm of sectarian violence. Thieves stole $96 million from a Bank of England cash depot 30 miles southeast of London in Britain's largest cash robbery. (Six men were later convicted and almost half of the money was recovered.) Eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant came forward to claim a $365 million Powerball jackpot.

One year ago: Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO'-lah ZAH'-zee), accused of buying beauty supplies to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization. A New York City police officer accused of sodomizing a drug suspect in a subway station was acquitted at trial; two colleagues were acquitted of a cover-up.

Today's birthdays: Announcer Don Pardo is 93. Actor Paul Dooley is 83. Hollywood "ghost singer" Marni Nixon is 81. Movie director Jonathan Demme (DEH'-mee) is 67. Actor John Ashton is 63. Actress Miou-Miou is 61. Actress Julie Walters is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 61. Actress Ellen Greene is 60. Former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is 59. White House adviser David Axelrod is 56. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 52. World Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 48. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 45. Actor Paul Lieberstein (TV: "The Office") is 44. Actress Jeri Ryan is 43. Actor Thomas Jane is 42. Actress Tamara Mello is 41. Actress-singer Lea Salonga (LAY'-uh suh-LONG'-guh) is 40. Actor Jose Solano is 40. International Tennis Hall-of-Famer Michael Chang is 39. Rock musician Scott Phillips is 38. Actress Drew Barrymore is 36. Actress Liza Huber is 36. Singer James Blunt is 34. Rock singer Tom Higgenson (Plain White T's) is 32. Actor Zach Roerig (TV: "The Vampire Diaries") is 26. Actor Daniel E. Smith is 21.

Thought for today: "Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish." -- Anne Bradstreet, American poet (1612-1672)

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.