Today In History

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2021. There are 318 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1959: Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a-half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

ON THIS DATE

› 1862: The Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee ended as some 12,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered; Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory earned him the moniker “Unconditional Surrender Grant.”

› 1868: The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

› 1945: American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

› 1948: NBC TV began airing its first nightly newscast, “The Camel Newsreel Theatre,” which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.

› 1960: The nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Conn., on the first submerged circumnavigation by a vessel.

› 1961: The United States launched the Explorer 9 satellite.

› 1968: The nation’s first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Alabama, as the speaker of the Alabama House, Rankin Fite, placed a call from the mayor’s office in City Hall to a red telephone at the police station (also located in City Hall) that was answered by U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill.

› 1996: Eleven people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Md.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Jazz/pop singer-actor Peggy King is 91. Actor William Katt is 70. Actor LeVar Burton is

64. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 63. Actor Lisa Loring is 63. International Tennis Hall of Famer John McEnroe is 62. Rock musician Andy Taylor is

60. Rock musician Dave Lombardo (Slayer) is 56. Actor Sarah Clarke is

50. Olympic gold medal runner Cathy Freeman is

48. Actor Mahershala Ali is 47. Singer Sam Salter is 46. Electronic dance music artist Bassnectar is

43. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is

39. Actor Chloe Wepper is 35. Pop-rock singer Ryan Follese (Hot Chelle Rae) is 34. Rock musician Danielle Haim is 32. Actor Elizabeth Olsen is

32. Actor Mike Weinberg is 28.