TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, FEB. 17, the 48th day of 2019. There are 317 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1864, during the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic was rammed and sunk in Charleston Harbor, S.C., by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley in the first naval attack of its kind; the Hunley also sank.
In 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.
In 1815, the United States and Britain exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
In 1865, during the Civil War, Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in.
In 1897, the forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, convened its first meeting in Washington.
In 1933, Newsweek magazine was first published under the title “News-Week.”
In 1944, during World War II, U.S. forces invaded Eniwetok Atoll, encountering little initial resistance from Imperial Japanese troops. The Americans secured the atoll less than a week later.
In 1947, the Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
In 1968, the original Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located on the campus of Springfield College in Massachusetts, was opened to the public.
In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon departed the White House with his wife, Pat, on a historic trip to China.
In 1986, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would no longer sell over-the-counter medications in capsule form, after the death of a woman who took a cyanide-laced Tylenol capsule.
In 1988, Lt. Col. William Higgins, a Marine Corps officer serving with a United Nations truce monitoring group, was kidnapped in southern Lebanon by Iranian-backed terrorists. His captors later killed him.
In 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov beat IBM supercomputer “Deep Blue,” winning a six-game match in Philadelphia. Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in a rematch in 1997.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Hal Holbrook is 94. Actor-comedian Barry Humphries (aka “Dame Edna”) is 85. Country singer-songwriter Johnny Bush and actress Christina Pickles are 84. Actress Rene Russo is 65. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 57. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan and actor-comedian Larry, the Cable Guy are 56. Rock musician Timothy J. Mahoney (311) and Olympic gold and silver medal skier Tommy Moe are 49. Actress Denise Richards is 48. Rock singer-musician Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) and rock musician Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) are 47. Actor Jason Ritter is 39. TV personality Paris Hilton and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are 38. Actor Chord Overstreet is 30. Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is 28. Actress Sasha Pieterse is 23.