TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Feb. 18, 1678

The first part of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” a Christian allegory by English author John Bunyan, was published in London.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1546

Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.

1861

Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

1930

Photographic evidence of Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

1970

The “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968.

1977

The space shuttle prototype Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its debut “flight” above Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1988

Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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.

2013

The European Union imposed trade and economic sanctions on North Korea while condemning “in the strongest terms” the nation’s latest nuclear test.

2017

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.