Today in history

On Feb. 19, 1968,

the children's program “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,” created by and starring Fred Rogers, made its network debut on National Educational Television, a forerunner of PBS, beginning a 31-season run.

In 1934,

a blizzard began inundating the northeastern United States, with the heaviest snowfall occurring in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

In 1945,

Operation Detachment began during World War II as some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful month-long battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

In 1963,

“The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan was first published by W.W. Norton & Co.

In 1976,

President Gerald R. Ford, calling the issuing of Executive Order 9066 in 1942 “a sad day in American history,” signed a proclamation formally confirming its termination.

In 1986,

the U.S. Senate approved, 83-11, the Genocide Convention, an international treaty outlawing “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” nearly 37 years after the pact was first submitted for ratification.