TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 21.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On Feb. 21, 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.)

ON THIS DATE

In 1437, James I, King of Scots, 42, was assassinated in Perth by a group of conspirators led by Walter, Earl of Atholl; his 6-year-old son succeeded him as James II.

In 1513, Pope Julius II, who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, died nearly four months after the project was completed.

In 1613, Mikhail Romanov, 16, was unanimously chosen by Russia’s national assembly to be czar, beginning a dynasty that would last three centuries.

In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated. In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting.

In 1945, during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes with the loss of 318 men.

In 1947, inventor Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which used self-developing film to produce a black & white photograph in 60 seconds.

In 1958, the USS Gudgeon (SS-567) became the first American submarine to complete a round-the-world cruise, eight months after departing from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing.

In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 ½ to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up (each ended up serving a year and a-half).

In 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States won the gold medal in ladies’ figure skating at the Albertville Olympics; Midori Ito of Japan won the silver, Nancy Kerrigan of the U.S., the bronze.

Ten years ago: Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade and set fire to an office during protests against Western support for an independent Kosovo.

Five years ago: Drew Peterson, the Chicago-area police officer who gained notoriety after his muchyounger fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007, was sentenced to 38 years in prison for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

One year ago: President Donald Trump condemned recent threats against Jewish community centers in the U.S. as“painful reminders”of lingering prejudice and evil; the president also denounced “bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms” during his first visit to the new Smithsonian black history museum.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“In scandal, as in robbery, the receiver is always as bad as the thief.” — Lord Chesterfield, English author and statesman (1694-1773). THE ASSOCIATED PRESS