TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, FEB. 11, the 42nd day of 2020. There are 324 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran.
In 1531, the Church of England grudgingly accepted King Henry VIII as its supreme head.
In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln bade farewell to his adopted hometown of Springfield, Illinois, as he headed to Washington for his inauguration.
In 1937, a six-week-old sit-down strike against General Motors ended, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.
In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement, in which Stalin agreed to declare war against Imperial Japan following Nazi Germany’s capitulation.
In 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party.
In 1990, South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.
In 2008, the Pentagon charged Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
In 2012, pop singer Whitney Houston, 48, was found dead in a hotel room bathtub in Beverly Hills, California.
In 2013, with a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI did what no pope had done in more than half a millennium: announced his resignation. The bombshell came during a routine morning meeting of Vatican cardinals. (The 85-year-old pontiff was succeeded by Pope Francis.)
In 2009, All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about steroids in baseball. (He was sentenced to a year’s probation.) Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who first went to Congress in 1955, became the longestserving member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Conrad Janis is 92. Gospel singer Jimmy Carter is 88. Fashion designer Mary Quant is 86. Actress Tina Louise is 82. Bandleader Sergio Mendes is 79. Actor Philip Anglim is 68. Actress Catherine Hickland and rock musician David Uosikkinen (The Hooters) are 64. Actress Carey Lowell is 59. Singer Sheryl Crow is 58. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is 56. Actress Jennifer Aniston is 51. Actor Damian Lewis is 49. Actress Marisa Petroro is 48. Singer D’Angelo is 46. Actor Brice Beckham is 44. Rock MC/vocalist Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) is 43. Singeractress Brandy is 41. Country musician Jon Jones (The Eli Young Band) and actor Matthew Lawrence are 40. Rhythmand-blues singer Kelly Rowland is 39. Actress Natalie Dormer is 38.