TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, FEB. 20, the 51st day of 2021. There are 314 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, upheld, 7-2, compulsory vaccination laws intended to protect the public’s health.
In 1792, President George Washington signed an act creating the United States Post Office Department. In
1839, Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.
In 1933, Congress proposed the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to repeal Prohibition.
In 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.
In 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 a flight lasting 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds before splashing down safely in the Atlantic Ocean 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.
In 1965, America’s Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon, as planned, after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.
In 1987, a bomb left by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski exploded behind a computer store in Salt Lake City, seriously injuring store owner Gary Wright.
In 1998, Tara Lipinski of the U.S. won the ladies’ figure skating gold medal at the Nagano Olympics; Michelle Kwan won the silver.
In 1999, movie reviewer Gene Siskel died at a hospital outside Chicago at age 53.
In 2003, a fire sparked by pyrotechnics broke out during a concert by the group Great White at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.
In 2007, in a victory for President George W. Bush, a divided federal appeals court ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees could not use the U.S. court system to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Sidney Poitier is 94. Racing Hall-of-Famer Bobby Unser is 87. Racing Hall-of-Famer Roger Penske is 84. Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is 80. Hockey Hall-ofFamer Phil Esposito is 79. Movie director Mike Leigh is 78. Actors Brenda Blethyn and Sandy Duncan are 75. Actor Peter Strauss is 74. Rock musician Billy Zoom (X) is 73. Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst and actor Anthony Head are 67. Country singer Leland Martin is 64. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley and rock musician Ian Brown (Stone Roses) are 58. Actors Willie Garson and French Stewart are 57. Model Cindy Crawford is 55. Actors Andrew Shue and Lili Taylor are 54. Actor Andrea Savage is 48. Actors Lauren Ambrose, Jay Hernandez and Chelsea Peretti are 43. Country musician Coy Bowles and actor Michael Zegen are 42. Actor-singer Jessie Mueller and MLB All-Star pitcher Justin Verlander are 38. Comedian Trevor Noah is 37. Actors Daniella Pineda and Miles Teller are 34. Singer Rihanna is 33. Actor Jack Falahee is 32.