TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, FEB. 23, the 54th day of 2018. There are 311 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags (the second flagraising was captured in the iconic Associated Press photograph.)

In 1685, composer George Frideric Handel was born in present-day Germany.

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 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 1934, Leopold III succeeded his late father, Albert I, as King of the Belgians.

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 schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh as some 5,000 students were vaccinated.

In 1965, film comedian Stan Laurel, 74, died in Santa Monica, Calif.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Peter Fonda is 78. Pro and College Football Hall-of-Famer Fred Biletnikoff is 75. Author John Sandford is 74. Actress Patricia Richardson and former NFL player Ed “Too Tall” Jones are 67. Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 66. Actress Kristin Davis and tennis player Helena Sukova are 53. Actor Marc Price is 50. Actress Niecy Nash is 48. Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 47. Actress Kelly Macdonald is 42. Actor Josh Gad is 37. Actress Emily Blunt and actor Aziz Ansari are 35. Actor Tye White (TV: “Greenleaf”) is 32. Actress Dakota Fanning is 24.