TODAY IN HISTORY

On Feb. 22, 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.

In 1889, President Grover Cleveland signed an enabling act paving the way for the Dakotas, Montana and Washington to become states.

In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held.

In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border. (Although the communists were driven out, they later returned.)

In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place in Lake Placid, New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets, 4-3.

In 1984, David Vetter, a 12-yearold Texas boy who had spent most of his life in a plastic bubble because he had no immunity to disease, died 15 days after being removed from the bubble for a bone-marrow transplant.

In 1987, pop artist Andy Warhol died at a New York City hospital at age 58.

In 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named “Dolly.” (Dolly, however, was later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)

In 2004, consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced he was running again for president, this time as an independent.

In 2005, Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II would not attend the civil marriage ceremony of her son Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles — but that her absence should not be interpreted as a snub.