TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Feb. 23, 1945

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

1685

Composer George Frideric Handel was born in presentday Germany.

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.

1954

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

1981

An attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage.