Today in History
Today is Sunday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2016. There are 314 days left
in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 21, 1916, the World
War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the
French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting. On this date:
In 1437, James I, King of Scots, was assassinated; his 6-year-old son
succeeded him as James II. In 1513, Pope Julius II, who'd commissioned
Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, died nearly
four months after the project was completed. In 1613, Mikhail Romanov,
16, was unanimously chosen by Russia's national assembly to be czar,
beginning a dynasty that would last three centuries. In 1885, the
Washington Monument was dedicated. In 1912, the Great Fifth Ward Fire
broke out in Houston, Texas; although property losses topped $3
million, no one was killed in the blaze. In 1945, during the World War
II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by
kamikazes with the loss of 318 men. In 1958, the USS Gudgeon (SS-567)
became the first American submarine to complete a round-the-world
cruise, eight months after departing from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. In
1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was
shot to death inside Harlem's Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins
identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men were convicted
of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.) In 1972,
President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and
his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing. In 1975, former Attorney General
John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D.
Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years prison for their roles in
the Watergate cover-up (each ended up serving a year and a-half). In
1986, Larry Wu-tai Chin, the first American found guilty of spying for
China, killed himself in his Virginia jail cell. In 1995, Chicago
adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the
Pacific Ocean by balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan. Ten years
ago: President George W. Bush endorsed the takeover of shipping
operations at six major U.S. seaports by a state-owned business in the
United Arab Emirates, and pledged to veto any bill Congress might
approve to block the agreement. Donald Herbert, a brain-injured
Buffalo, New York, firefighter who suddenly spoke after nearly a decade
in a near-vegetative state, died at age 44. Harvard University
president Lawrence H. Summers announced his resignation. Five years
ago: Deep cracks opened in Moammar Gadhafi's regime, with Libyan
government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots
defecting and a major government building ablaze after clashes in the
capital of Tripoli. Yemen's embattled leader, President Ali Abdullah
Saleh (AH'-lee ahb-DUH'-luh sah-LEH'), rejected demands that he step
down, calling demonstrations against his regime unacceptable acts of
provocation and offering to begin a dialogue with protesters. One year
ago: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made his international debut
with a visit to Afghanistan to see American troops and commanders, meet
with Afghan leaders and assess whether U.S. withdrawal plans were too
risky to Afghan security. Activists, actors, and politicians gathered
in New York City at the place where civil rights leader Malcolm X was
shot to death 50 years earlier. Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, 94, died in
Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Today's Birthdays: Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe is 92. Fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy is 89. Movie director
Bob Rafelson is 83. Actor Gary Lockwood is 79. Actor-director Richard
Beymer is 77. Actor Peter McEnery is 76. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.,
is 76. Film/music company executive David Geffen is 73. Actress Tyne
Daly is 70. Actor Anthony Daniels is 70. Tricia Nixon Cox is 70. Former
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, is 69. Rock musician Jerry Harrison
(The Heads) is 67. Actress Christine Ebersole is 63. Actor William
Petersen is 63. Actor Kelsey Grammer is 61. Country singer Mary Chapin
Carpenter is 58. Actor Kim Coates is 58. Actor Jack Coleman is 58.
Actor Christopher Atkins is 55. Rock singer Ranking Roger is 55. Actor
William Baldwin is 53. Rock musician Michael Ward is 49. Actress
Aunjanue Ellis is 47. Blues musician Corey Harris is 47. Country singer
Eric Heatherly is 46. Rock musician Eric Wilson is 46. Rock musician
Tad Kinchla (Blues Traveler) is 43. Singer Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina
Chocolate Drops) is 39. Actor Tituss Burgess is 37. Actress Jennifer
Love Hewitt is 37. Actor Brendan Sexton III is 36. Singer Charlotte
Church is 30. Actress Ashley Greene is 29. Actress Ellen Page is 29.
Actor Corbin Bleu is 27. Actress Hayley Orrantia is 22. Actress Sophie
Turner is 20. Thought for Today: "There is nothing more horrifying than
stupidity in action. Adlai E. Stevenson, American politician and
diplomat (1900-1965).
