TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2018. There are 316 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 18, 1678, the first part of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” a Christian allegory by English author John Bunyan, was published in London.
On this date:
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1930, photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a “dwarf planet”) was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
In 1953, “Bwana Devil,” the movie that heralded the 3D fad of the 1950s, had its New York opening.
In 1997, astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery completed their tune-up of the Hubble Space Telescope after 33 hours of spacewalking; the Hubble was then released using the shuttle’s crane.
Ten years ago: The Pakistan People’s Party of assassinated ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto won the most seats in parliamentary elections. Republican John McCain picked up the support of former President George H.W. Bush.
Five years ago: The European Union imposed trade and economic sanctions on North Korea while condemning “in the strongest terms” the nation’s latest nuclear test. President Hugo Chavez returned to Venezuela after more than two months of treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery.
One year ago: Four weeks into his administration, President Donald Trump led a rally in central Florida that mirrored the months leading up to Election Day, complete with a promise to repeal the health care law, a renewed pledge to build a wall along the U.S.Mexico border, and insults for the news media.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is 91. Author Toni Morrison is 87. Movie director Milos Forman is 86. Singer Yoko Ono is 85. Singer-songwriter Bobby Hart is 79. Singer Irma Thomas is 77. Singer Herman Santiago (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 77. Actress Jess Walton is 72. Singer Dennis DeYoung is 71. Actress Sinead Cusack is 70. Actress Cybill Shepherd is 68. Singer Randy Crawford is 66. Rock musician Robbie Bachman is 65. Actor John Travolta is
64. Actor John Pankow is 63. Game show host Vanna White is 61. Actor Matt Dillon is 54. Rock musician Tommy Scott (Space) is 54. Rapper Dr. Dre is 53. Actress Molly Ringwald is 50. Actress Sarah Brown is
43. Country musician Trevor Rosen (Old Dominion) is 43. Actor Kristoffer Polaha is 41. Actress Sara Sutherland is 30. Actress Maiara Walsh is 30.
Thought for Today: “The lack of a sense of history is the damnation of the modern world.”—Robert Penn Warren, American author, poet and critic (1905-1989).