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 Today's
highlight in history:
On Feb. 22, 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born at his parents' plantation in the Virginia Colony.
On this date:
In 1819, Spain agreed to cede Florida to the United States under the Adams-Onis Treaty.
In 1862, Jefferson Davis, already the provisional president of the Confederacy, was inaugurated for a six-year term as president following his election the previous November.
In 1865, Tennessee adopted a new constitution that included the abolition of slavery.
In 1889, President Cleveland signed an omnibus bill to admit the Dakotas, Montana and Washington state to the Union.
In 1892, "Lady Windermere's Fan" by Oscar Wilde was first performed, at London's St. James' Theater.
In 1924, President Coolidge delivered the first radio broadcast from the White House as he addressed the country over 42 stations.
In 1935, it became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.
In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border.
In 1973, the United States and China agreed to establish liaison offices.
In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)
Ten years ago: Abraham A. Ribicoff, the former Connecticut governor and senator who served as President Kennedy's secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, died in Riverdale, N.Y., at age 87. The Czech Republic defeated Russia 1-0 to win men's hockey as the Nagano Winter Olympics came to a close.
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Five years ago: Jesica Santillan, the teenager who'd survived a botched heart-lung transplant long enough to get a second set of donated organs, died two days after the second transplant at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.
One year ago: Britain's Ministry of Defense announced that Prince Harry, a second lieutenant in the British army, would be deployed to Iraq. (Officials later reversed the decision because of insurgent threats.) The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Iran had ignored a Security Council ultimatum to freeze uranium enrichment, and instead had expanded its program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.
Today's birthdays: Announcer Don Pardo is 90. Actor Paul Dooley is 80. Hollywood "ghost singer" Marni Nixon is 78. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is 76. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 64. Actor John Ashton is 60. Actress Miou-Miou is 58. Actress Julie Walters is 58. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving is 58. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 49. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 42. Actress Jeri Ryan is 40. Actor Thomas Jane is 39. Actress Tamara Mello is 38. Actress-singer Lea Salonga is 37. Actor Jose Solano is 37. Tennis player Michael Chang is 36. Actress Drew Barrymore is 33. Actress Liza Huber is 33. Singer James Blunt is 31. Actor Daniel E. Smith is 18.
Thought for today: "I can resist everything except temptation."
-- From "Lady Windermere's Fan," by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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