This day in history

[February 23, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Feb. 23, the 54th day of 2010. There are 311 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Feb. 23, 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag twice. (The second flag-raising was captured in the iconic photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal of The Associated Press.)

On this date:

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 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.

In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

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 the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)

In 1990, former Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte (doo-AHR'-tay) died at age 64.

Ten years ago: Carlos Santana won eight Grammy awards, including album of the year for "Supernatural," tying the record set by Michael Jackson in 1983 for most trophies in one night.

Five years ago: A jury was selected in Santa Maria, Calif., to decide Michael Jackson's fate on charges that he'd molested a teenage boy at his Neverland Ranch. (Jackson was later acquitted.) President George W. Bush and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (GEHR'-hahrd SHROH'-dur) agreed to turn down the volume on their disagreements about Iraq and Iran. French film star Simone Simon, in her 90s, died in Paris.

One year ago: President Barack Obama pledged to dramatically slash the skyrocketing annual budget deficit as he started to dole out the record $787 billion economic stimulus package he'd signed the previous week.

Today's birthdays: Actor Peter Fonda is 70. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff is 67. Author John Sandford is 66. Singer-musician Johnny Winter is 66. Country-rock musician Rusty Young is 64. Actress Patricia Richardson is 59. Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 58. Singer Howard Jones is 55. Rock musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche) is 48. Country singer Dusty Drake is 46. Actress Kristin Davis is 45. Tennis player Helena Sukova is 45. Actor Marc Price is 42. Actress Niecy Nash is 40. Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 39. Country singer Steve Holy is 38. Rock musician Lasse (loss) Johansson (The Cardigans) is 37. Actress Emily Blunt is 27. Actor Aziz Ansari is 27. Actress Dakota Fanning is 16.

Thought for today: "If you wish to avoid seeing a fool, you must first break your mirror." -- Francois Rabelais (ra-beh-LAY'), French satirist (1494-1553)

[Associated Press]

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