Today In History
Today is Friday, Feb. 26, the 57th day of 2021. There are 308 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1993: A truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. (The bomb failed to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both structures were destroyed in the 9/11 attack eight years later.)
ON THIS DATE
› 1904: The United States and Panama proclaimed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to undertake efforts to build a ship canal across the Panama isthmus.
› 1940: The United States Air Defense Command was created.
› 1942: “How Green Was My Valley” won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1941, beating out nine other films, including “The Maltese Falcon” and “Citizen Kane.”
› 1945: Authorities ordered a midnight curfew at nightclubs, bars and other places of entertainment across the nation.
› 1952: Prime Minister
Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
› 1966: South Korean troops sent to fight in the Vietnam War massacred at least 380 civilians in Go Dai hamlet.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Country-rock musician Paul Cotton (Poco) is 78. Actor-director Bill Duke is 78. Singer Mitch Ryder is 76. Actor Marta Kristen (TV: “Lost in Space”) is
76. Rock musician Jonathan Cain (Journey) is 71. Singer Michael Bolton is 68. The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is 67. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is 63. Bandleader John McDaniel is
60. Actor-martial artist Mark Dacascos is 57. Actor Jennifer Grant is 55. Rock musician Tim Commerford (Audioslave) is
53. Singer Erykah Badu is 50. Actor Maz Jobrani (TV: “Superior Donuts”) is 49. R&B singer Rico Wade (Society of Soul) is
49. Olympic gold medal swimmer Jenny Thompson is 48. R&B singer Kyle Norman (Jagged Edge) is 46. Actor Greg Rikaart is 44. Rock musician Chris Culos (O.A.R.) is 42. R&B singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 42. Pop singer Nate Ruess (fun.) is 39. Tennis player Li Na is 39. Latin singer Natalia Lafourcade is 37. Actor Teresa Palmer is 35.