On this day, Feb. 21
1885 The Washington Monument was dedicated.
1911 Composer Gustav Mahler, despite a fever, conducted the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in what turned out to be his final concert (he died the following May).
1964 The first shipment of U.S. wheat purchased by the Soviet Union arrived in the port of Odessa.
1965 Minister and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York. (Three men identified as members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled. The convictions of two of the men were dismissed in November 2021; prosecutors said new evidence had undermined the case against them.)
1972 President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing.
1973 Israeli fighter planes shot down
Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing all but five of the 113 people on board.
1975 Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2½ to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up (each ended up serving 1½ years).
2019 Teachers in Oakland, Calif., went on strike in the latest in a wave of teacher activism that had included walkouts in Denver, Los Angeles and West Virginia.
2013 Drew Peterson, the Chicago-area police officer who gained notoriety after his much-younger fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007, was sentenced to 38 years in prison for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
2020 A temporary truce between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan took effect, setting the stage for the two sides to sign a peace deal the following week.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Gary Lockwood, 86. Actor-director Richard Beymer, 84. Actor Peter McEnery, 83. Film/music company executive David Geffen, 80. Actor Tyne Daly, 77. Actor Anthony Daniels, 77. Tricia Nixon Cox, 77. Former Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, 76. Actor Christine Ebersole, 70. Actor William Petersen, 70. Actor Kelsey Grammer, 68. Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter, 65. Actor Kim Coates, 65. Actor Jack Coleman, 65. Actor Christopher Atkins, 62. Actor William Baldwin, 60. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., 59. Blues musician Corey Harris, 54. Country singer Eric Heatherly, 53. Rock musician Eric Wilson, 53. Rock musician Tad Kinchla (Blues Traveler), 50. Singer Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), 46. Actor Tituss Burgess, 44. Actor Jennifer Love Hewitt, 44. Comedian-actor Jordan Peele, 44. Actor Brendan Sexton III, 43. Singer Charlotte Church, 37. Actor Ashley Greene, 36. Actor Elliot Page, 36. Actor Corbin Bleu, 34. Actor Hayley Orrantia, 29.