Today In History

Today is Thursday, Feb. 15, the 46th day of 2024. There are 320 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On Feb. 15, 1965, singer Nat King Cole, who despite facing extreme racism throughout his short career sold more than 50 million records that included massive hits such as “Mona Lisa” and “Route 66,” died in Santa Monica, California. He was 45.

ON THIS DATE

› 1764: The site of present-day St. Louis was established by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau. ›

1879: President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

› 1933: President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt in Miami that mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak; gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed more than four weeks later.

› 1950: Walt Disney’s animated film “Cinderella” premiered in Boston.

› 1961: Seventy-three people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to the World Championships in Czechoslovakia, were killed in the crash of a Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 in Belgium.

› 1989: The Soviet Union announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan, after more than nine years of military intervention.

› 1992: A Milwaukee jury found that Jeffrey Dahmer was sane when he killed and mutilated 15 men and boys.

› 2003: Millions of protesters around the world demonstrated against the prospect of a U.S. attack on Iraq.

› 2021: Salsa music idol Johnny Pacheco died at 85 in New York, where he’d been hospitalized with pneumonia.

› 2022: The families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting agreed to a $73 million settlement of a lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used to kill 20 first graders and six educators in 2012.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Claire Bloom is 93. Author Susan Brownmiller is 89. Songwriter Brian Holland is 83. Rock musician Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 80. Actor Jane Seymour is 73. Singer Melissa Manchester is

73. Actor Lynn Whitfield is 71. “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is 70. Model Janice Dickinson is 69. Actor Joseph R. Gannascoli is 65. Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club) is 64. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrell Green is 64. Actor-comedian Steven Michael Quezada is 61. Actor Michael Easton is 57. Latin singer Gloria Trevi is 56. Actor Alex Borstein is

53. Actor Renee O’Connor is 53. Olympic gold medal swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen is 51. Actor-director Miranda July is 50. Rock singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus) is 48. Rock musician Ronnie Vannucci (The Killers) is 48.