TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Feb. 23, 1954

The first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh as some 5,000 students were vaccinated.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1685

Composer George Frideric Handel was born in presentday Germany.

1822

Boston was granted a charter to incorporate as a city.

1836

The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.

1848

The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington D.C., at age 80.

1870

Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

1927

President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.

1942

The first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.

1945

During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags

1965

Film comedian Stan Laurel, 74, died in Santa Monica, California.

1998

42 people were killed, some 2,600 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, by tornadoes in central Florida.

2004

The Army canceled its Comanche helicopter program after sinking $6.9 billion into it over 21 years. Education Secretary Rod Paige likened the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, to a “terrorist organization” during a private White House meeting with governors.