 Today's highlight in history:
On Feb. 23, 1942, the first shelling of the U.S. mainland during
World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil
refinery near Santa Barbara, Calif., causing little damage.
On this date:
In 1685, composer George Frideric Handel was born in Germany.
In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
In 1848, the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy
Adams, died in Washington, D.C., at age 80.
In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in
Washington to take office, following word of a possible
assassination plot in Baltimore.
In 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating the
Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications
Commission.
In 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured
Mount Suribachi.
In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with
the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
In 1965, film comedian Stan Laurel, 74, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
In 1970, Guyana became a republic within the Commonwealth of
Nations.
In 1981, an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the
Civil Guard invaded Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However,
the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)
In 1992, the XVI Winter Olympic Games ended in Albertville, France.
Ten years ago: Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid
Betancourt was kidnapped by a rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia. (She was rescued along with 14 other hostages in
July 2008.) Penn State pole vaulter Kevin Dare, 19, died after
landing on his head during the Big Ten indoor championships in
Minneapolis.
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Five years ago: A Mississippi grand jury refused to bring any
new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, a black teenager who
was beaten and shot after whistling at a white woman, declining to
indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for manslaughter. Democrat
Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency. Phoenix Sky Harbor
International Airport became the first in the United States to begin
testing new X-ray screening technology that could see through
people's clothes. Forty-six countries attending a conference in
Oslo, Norway, agreed to push for a global treaty banning cluster
bombs.
One year ago: In a major policy reversal, the Obama
administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality
of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law banning recognition of
same-sex marriage.
Today's birthdays: Actor Peter Fonda is 72. Pro and College
Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff is 69. Author John Sandford
is 68. Singer-musician Johnny Winter is 68. Country-rock musician
Rusty Young is 66. Actress Patricia Richardson is 61. Rock musician
Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 60. Singer Howard Jones is 57. Rock
musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche) is 50. Country singer Dusty
Drake is 48. Actress Kristin Davis is 47. Tennis player Helena
Sukova is 47. Actor Marc Price is 44. Actress Niecy Nash is 42. Rock
musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 41. Country singer Steve Holy
is 40. Rock musician Lasse (loss) Johansson (The Cardigans) is 39.
Actress Kelly Macdonald is 36. Actress Emily Blunt is 29. Actor Aziz
Ansari is 29. Actress Dakota Fanning is 18.
Thought for today: "Men are more often bribed by their
loyalties and ambitions than by money." -- Robert H. Jackson,
U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1892-1954)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
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