TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 7, the 38th day of 2024. There are 328 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY

On Feb. 7, 1962, President John F. Kennedy imposed a full trade embargo on Cuba.

1857 — A French court acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel “Madame Bovary.”

1943 — The government abruptly announced that wartime rationing of shoes made of leather would go into effect in two days, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person per year. (Rationing was lifted in October 1945.)

1964 — The Beatles arrived to screaming fans at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to begin their first American tour.

1984 — Space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk, which lasted nearly six hours.

1985 — US Drug Enforcement Administration

agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, Mexico, by drug traffickers who tortured and murdered him.

2018 — Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick SoonShiong struck a $500 million deal to buy the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other publications.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Author Gay Talese is 92. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., is 72. Comedy writer Robert Smigel is 64. Actor James Spader is 64. Country singer Garth Brooks is 62. Rock musician David Bryan (Bon Jovi) is 62. Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard is 62. Actor-comedian Chris Rock is 59. Actor Jason Gedrick is 57. Actor Essence Atkins is 51. Rock singer-musician Wes Borland is 49. Rock musician Tom Blankenship (My Morning Jacket) is 46. Actor Ashton Kutcher is 46. Actor Tina Majorino is 39. Actor Deborah Ann Woll is 39. Former NBA player Isaiah Thomas is 35.