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 Today's
highlight in history:
On Feb. 7, 1964, The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
On this date:
In 1812, author Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.
In 1857, a French court acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel "Madame Bovary."
In 1861, the general council of the Choctaw Indian nation adopted a resolution declaring allegiance with the South "in the event a permanent dissolution of the American Union takes place."
In 1904, a fire began in Baltimore that raged for about 30 hours and destroyed more than 1,500 buildings.
In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized a flag for the office of the vice president.
In 1943, the government announced the start of shoe rationing, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person for the remainder of the year.
In 1948, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by General Omar Bradley.
In 1974, the island nation of Grenada won independence from Britain.
In 1983, Elizabeth H. Dole was sworn in as the first female secretary of transportation by the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
In 1984, space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered space walk.
Ten years ago: The Winter Olympic Games opened in Nagano, Japan. It was announced that Carl Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, had died in Los Angeles from complications of lung cancer; he was 51.
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Five years ago: The government raised its terror threat level to "high risk" orange, warning of a growing possibility that the al-Qaida network would launch an attack against the United States to coincide with Muslim holy days. President Bush courted the leaders of France and China in an uphill struggle to win U.N. backing for war with Iraq. Tom Christerson, the longest-living recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart, died at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., after 512 days on the AbioCor; he was 71. Colombian guerillas bombed the exclusive El Nogal social club in Bogota, killing 36 people and injuring 160 others.
One year ago: U.S. officials confirmed a new security operation was under way in Baghdad; U.S. armor rushed through streets, and Iraqi armored personnel carriers guarded bridges and major intersections. A Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Anbar, killing all seven people on board. In a first, the Food and Drug Administration approved alli, a diet pill that can be bought without a prescription.
Today's birthdays: Country singer Wilma Lee Cooper is 87. Author Gay Talese is 76. Actor Miguel Ferrer is 53. Reggae musician Brian Travers (UB40) is 49. Actor James Spader is 48. Country singer Garth Brooks is 46. Rock musician David Bryan (Bon Jovi) is 46. Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard is 46. Actor-comedian Chris Rock is 43. Actor Jason Gedrick is 41. Actor Ashton Kutcher is 30. Actress Tina Majorino is 23.
Thought for today: "The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline."
-- O.A. "Bum" Phillips, American football coach
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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