Today In History
Today is Thursday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2021. There are 316 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1970: The “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).
ON THIS DATE
› 1546: Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.
› 1930: Photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a “dwarf planet”) was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
› 1943: Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Chinese leader, addressed members of the Senate and then the House, becoming the first Chinese national to address both houses of the U.S. Congress.
› 1960: The 8th Winter Olympic Games were formally opened in Squaw Valley, California, by Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
› 1997: Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery completed their tuneup of the Hubble Space
Telescope after 33 hours of spacewalking; the Hubble was then released using the shuttle’s crane.
› 2001: Auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500; he was 49.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Former Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is 94. Singer Yoko Ono is
88. Singer-songwriter Bobby Hart is 82. Actor Jess Walton is 75. Singer Dennis DeYoung is 74. Actor Sinead Cusack is
73. Actor Cybill Shepherd is 71. Singer Randy Crawford is 69. Rock musician Robbie Bachman is 68. Actor John Travolta is
67. Actor John Pankow is 66. Game show host Vanna White is 64. Actor Jayne Atkinson is 62. Actor Greta Scacchi is 61. Actor Matt Dillon is 57. Rock musician Tommy Scott (Space) is 57. Rapper Dr. Dre is 56. Actor Molly Ringwald is 53. Actor Sarah Brown is 46. Country musician Trevor Rosen (Old Dominion) is
46. Actor Kristoffer Polaha is 44. Singer-musician Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) is 44. Rock-singer musician Regina Spektor is 41. Opera singer Isabel Leonard is 39. Roots rock musician Zac Cockrell (Alabama Shakes) is 33. Actor Shane Lyons is 33. Actor Sarah Sutherland is 33. Actor Maiara Walsh is 33.