TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, FEB. 21, the 52nd day of 2021. There are 313 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1965, minister and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.)
In 1862, Nathaniel Gordon became the first and only American slave trader to be executed under the U.S. Piracy Law of 1820 as he was hanged in New York.
In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French prevailed after 10 months of fighting.
In 1945, during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes, with the loss of 318 men.
In 1964, the first shipment of U.S. wheat purchased by the Soviet Union arrived in the port of Odessa.
In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing.
In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all but five of the 113 people on board.
In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2½ to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up (each ended up serving 18 months).
In 1995, Chicago adventurer Steve
Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean by balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 2010, a mistaken U.S. missile attack killed 23 civilians in Afghanistan. (Four American officers were later reprimanded.) The United States stunned Canada 5-3 to advance to the Olympic men’s hockey quarterfinals in Vancouver.
In 2018, the Rev. Billy Graham, a confidant of presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died at his North Carolina home; he was 99.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Movie director Bob Rafelson is 88. Actor Gary Lockwood is 84. Actor Peter McEnery is 81. Film/music company executive David Geffen is 78. Actors Tyne Daly and Anthony Daniels, and Tricia Nixon Cox are 75. Rock musician Jerry Harrison (The Heads) is 72. Actors Christine Ebersole and William Petersen are 68. Actor Kelsey Grammer and singer/ guitarist Larry Campbell are 66. Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter, and actors Kim Coates and Jack Coleman are 63. Actor Christopher Atkins is
60. Actor William Baldwin is 58. Rock musician Michael Ward is 54. Actor Aunjanue Ellis and blues musician Corey Harris are 52. Country singer Eric Heatherly and rock musician Eric Wilson are 51. Rock musician Tad Kinchla (Blues Traveler) is 48. Actors Tituss Burgess and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and comedianactor Jordan Peele are 42. Actor Brendan Sexton III is 41. Singer Charlotte Church is 35. Actor Corbin Bleu is 32. Actor Hayley Orrantia is 27. Actor Sophie Turner is 25.