TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Feb. 20, 1962

Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Project Mercury’s Friendship 7 spacecraft, which circled the globe three times in aflight lasting 4hours, 55minutes and 23seconds before splashing down safely in the Atlantic Ocean 800miles southeast of Bermuda.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1792

President George Washington signed an act creating the United States Post Office Department.

1862

William Wallace Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of President Abraham Lincoln and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, died at the White House, apparently of typhoid fever.

1907

President Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded “idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons” from being admitted to the United States.

1942

Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare became the U.S. Navy’s first flying ace of World War II by shooting down five Japanese bombers while defending the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in the South Pacific.

1950

The U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Rabinowitz, ruled 5-3that authorities making a lawful arrest did not need a warrant to search and seize evidence in an area that was in the “immediate and complete control” of the suspect.

1987

A bomb left by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski exploded behind a computer store in Salt Lake City, seriously injuring store owner Gary Wright.

2013

The Obama administration announced a broad new effort to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets following fresh evidence linking cybersteal-ing to China’s military.