TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Feb. 9, 1943

The World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1773

The ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Virginia.

1825

The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

1861

Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America at a congress held in Montgomery, Alabama.

1870

The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

1942

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.

1950

In a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.

1964

The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” broadcast from New York on CBS.

1971

A magnitude 6.6earthquake in California’s San Fernando Valley claimed 65lives.

2017

A federal appeals court refused to reinstate President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, unanimously rejecting the administration’s claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and concluding that the order was unlikely to survive legal challenges.