Today in History
Today is Sunday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2016. There are 321 days left
in the year. This is Valentine's Day. Today's Highlight in History: On
Feb. 14, 1849, President James K. Polk became the first U.S. chief
executive to be photographed while in office as he posed for Matthew
Brady in New York City. On this date: In 1778, the American ship Ranger
carried the recently adopted Stars and Stripes to a foreign port for
the first time as it arrived in France. In 1859, Oregon was admitted to
the Union as the 33rd state. In 1895, Oscar Wilde's final play, "The
Importance of Being Earnest," opened at the St. James's Theatre in
London. In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established.
(It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in
1913.) In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union as President
William Howard Taft signed a proclamation. In 1924, the
Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. of New York was formally renamed
International Business Machines Corp., or IBM. In 1929, the "St.
Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in a Chicago garage as seven
rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down. In 1941, the Carson
McCullers novel "Reflections in a Golden Eye," previously serialized,
was published in book form by Houghton Mifflin. In 1946, the film noir
"Gilda," starring Rita Hayworth, was released by Columbia Pictures. In
1962, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a televised tour of the
White House in a videotaped special that was broadcast on CBS and NBC
(and several nights later on ABC). In 1975, Anglo-American author P.G.
Wodehouse, 93, died in Southampton, New York. In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The
Satanic Verses," a novel condemned as blasphemous. Ten years ago:
Attorney Harry Whittington, who was accidentally shot by Vice President
Dick Cheney, suffered a mild heart attack when a shotgun pellet
traveled to his heart, but he recovered. Iran said it had resumed
uranium enrichment; Russia and France immediately called on Iran to
halt its work. At Turin, American Ted Ligety won Olympic gold in men's
combined skiing, while Bode Miller was disqualified for straddling a
gate. Five years ago: President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.7 trillion
budget plan that would freeze or reduce some safety-net programs for
the nation's poor but turn aside Republican demands for more drastic
cuts to shrink the government to where it was before he took office.
Protesters took to the streets in Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, inspired by
the popular uprising in Egypt that brought down President Hosni
Mubarak. The TV game show "Jeopardy! began airing the first of three
episodes pitting human players Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings against an
IBM computer named "Watson. (Watson ended up winning with a cumulative
total of $77,147 versus $24,000 for Jennings and $21,600 for Rutter.)
One year ago: A Danish gunman attacked a free-speech seminar and a
synagogue in Copenhagen, killing two people; the shooter was later
slain by a special police team. Actor Louis Jourdan, 93, died in
Beverly Hills, California. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Levine,
87, died in Fresno, California. Today's Birthdays: TV personality Hugh
Downs is 95. Actress-singer Florence Henderson is 82. Actor Andrew
Prine is 80. Country singer Razzy Bailey is 77. Former New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is 74. Jazz musician Maceo Parker is 73. Movie
director Alan Parker is 72. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 72. Former
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is 69. TV personality Pat O'Brien is 68.
Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 68. Cajun singer-musician Michael
Doucet (doo-SAY') (Beausoleil) is 65. Actor Ken Wahl is 59. Opera
singer Renee Fleming is 57. Actress Meg Tilly is 56. Pro Football Hall
of Famer Jim Kelly is 56. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 55. Actress
Sakina Jaffey is 54. Actor Enrico Colantoni is 53. Actor Zach Galligan
is 52. Actor Valente Rodriguez is 52. Rock musician Ricky Wolking (The
Nixons) is 50. Tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 49. Actor Simon Pegg is
46. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 44. Rock singer Rob Thomas
(Matchbox Twenty) is 44. Actor Matt Barr is 32. Actor Jake Lacy is 30.
Actress Tiffany Thornton is 30. Actor Freddie Highmore is 24. Thought
for Today: "We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence
masquerading as love. R.D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist (1927-1989).
