Today in History
Today in History
Today is Monday, Feb. 10, the 41st day of 2020. There are 325 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, dealing with presidential disability and succession, was ratified as Minnesota and Nevada adopted it.
On this date:
In 1840, Britain’s Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg (KOH’-borg) and Gotha (GAH’-thuh).
In 1936, Nazi Germany’s Reichstag passed a law investing the Gestapo secret police with absolute authority, exempt from any legal review.
In 1949, Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” opened at Broadway’s Morosco Theater with Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman.
In 1959, a major tornado tore through the St. Louis area, killing 21 people and causing heavy damage.
In 1962, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States.
In 1968, U.S. figure skater Peggy Fleming, 19, won America’s only gold medal of the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France, in the ladies’ singles event. (Gabriele Seyfert of East Germany earned the silver medal, Hana Maskova of Czechoslovakia, the bronze.)
In 1992, boxer Mike Tyson was convicted in Indianapolis of raping Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant. (Tyson served three years in prison.) “Roots” author Alex Haley died in Seattle at age 70.
In 1997, a civil jury heaped 25 (M) million dollars in punitive damages on O.J. Simpson for the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, on top of eight-point-five (M) million dollars in compensatory damages awarded earlier.
In 2001, the space shuttle Atlantis’ astronauts installed the $1.4 billion Destiny laboratory on the international space station. Former New York City Mayor Abraham D. Beame died at age 94.
In 2004, the White House, trying to end doubts about President George W. Bush’s Vietnam-era military service, released documents it said proved he had met his requirements in the Texas Air National Guard. Democrat John Kerry won the Virginia and Tennessee primaries.
In 2005, Britain’s Prince Charles announced he would marry his divorced lover, Camilla Parker Bowles, in April. North Korea boasted publicly for the first time that it possessed nuclear weapons.
In 2006, Dr. Norman Shumway, who performed the first successful U.S. heart transplant, died in Palo Alto, California, at age 83.
Ten years ago: Shuttle Endeavour arrived to a warm welcome at the International Space Station, delivering a new room and observation deck. Former Congressman Charlie Wilson, a Texas Democrat whose funding of Afghanistan’s resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie and book “Charlie Wilson’s War,” died in Dallas at age 76.
Five years ago: The parents of Kayla Jean Mueller and U.S. officials confirmed the death of the 26-year-old aid worker who had been held captive by the Islamic State group (IS said Mueller had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike). NBC announced it was suspending Brian Williams as “Nightly News” anchor and managing editor for six months without pay for misleading the public about his experiences covering the Iraq War. Jon Stewart announced he would step down as host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central later in the year.
One year ago: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined the growing group of Democrats jostling for the party’s presidential nomination. Female acts took home some of the top prizes including album of the year and best new artist at the Grammys, with Kacey Musgraves’ country-pop release “Golden Hour” capturing the top album prize; Childish Gambino made history when “This Is America” became the first rap-based track to win record and song of the year.
Today’s Birthdays: Opera singer Leontyne Price is 93. Actor Robert Wagner is 90. Rock musician Don Wilson (The Ventures) is 87. Singer Roberta Flack is 83. Singer Jimmy Merchant (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 80. Movie director Michael Apted is 79. Rock musician Bob Spalding (The Ventures) is 73. Olympic gold-medal swimmer Mark Spitz is 70. Walt Disney Co. chairman and chief executive Robert Iger is 69. Rock musician and composer Cory Lerios (Pablo Cruise) is 69. World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman is 65. Actress Kathleen Beller is 64. Country singer Lionel Cartwright is 60. Movie director Alexander Payne is 59. ABC News correspondent George Stephanopoulos is 59. Retired MLB All-Star Lenny Dykstra is 57. Political commentator Glenn Beck is 56. Actress Laura Dern is 53. Writer-producer-director Vince Gilligan (TV: “Breaking Bad”) is 53. Country singer Dude Mowrey is 48. Actor Jason Olive is 48. Actress Elizabeth Banks is 46. Pop singer Rosanna Taverez (Eden’s Crush) is 43. Actress Julia Pace Mitchell is 42. Reggaeton singer Don Omar is 42. Country musician Jeremy Baxter (Carolina Rain) is 40. Actress Uzo Aduba is 39. Actress Stephanie Beatriz is 39. Actor Max Brown is 39. Actor Barry Sloane is 39. Rock singer Eric Dill is 38. Rock musician Ben Romans (The Click Five) is 38. Actor Trevante Rhodes is 30. Actress Emma Roberts is 29. Actress Makenzie Vega is 26. Actress Chloe Grace Moretz is 23. Actress Yara Shahidi is 20.
Thought for Today: “Morality is moral only when it is voluntary.” — Lincoln Steffens, American journalist (1866-1936).
Copyright 2020, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
