On this day, Feb. 7
1943 The government abruptly announced that wartime rationing of shoes made of leather would go into effect in two days, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person per year. (Rationing was lifted in October 1945.)
1948 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as U.S. Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by Gen. Omar Bradley.
1962 President John F. Kennedy imposed a full trade embargo on Cuba.
1964 The Beatles arrived to screaming fans at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to begin their first American tour.
1971 Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote through a national referendum, 12 years after a previous attempt failed.
1984 Space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk, which lasted nearly six hours.
1985 U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, Mexico, by drug traffickers who tortured and murdered him.
1991 Jean-Bertrand Aristide was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of Haiti (he was overthrown by the military the following September).
2009 A miles-wide section of ice in Lake Erie broke away from the Ohio shoreline, trapping about 135 fishermen, some for as long as four hours before they could be rescued (one man fell into the water and later died of an apparent heart attack).
2018 Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick SoonShiong struck a $500 million deal to buy the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other publications.
2020 Two days after his acquittal in his first Senate impeachment trial, President Donald Trump took retribution against two officials who had delivered damaging testimony; he ousted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a national security aide, and Gordon Sondland, his ambassador to the European Union.
2021 After moving south to a new team and conference, Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on the Buccaneers’ home field.
Today’s birthdays: Author Gay Talese, 92. Comedy writer Robert Smigel, 64. Actor James Spader, 64. Country singer Garth Brooks, 62. Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard, 62. Actor-comedian Chris Rock, 59. Actor Jason Gedrick, 57. Rock singer-musician Wes Borland, 49. Rock musician Tom Blankenship (My Morning Jacket), 46. Actor Ashton Kutcher, 46. Actor Tina Majorino, 39. Actor Deborah Ann Woll, 39. Former NBA player Isaiah Thomas, 35. NHL center Steven Stamkos, 34.