DAY IN HISTORY

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Today is the 49th day of 2020 and the 60th day of summer. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1885, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published.

In 1930, astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Planet X, the dwarf planet later renamed Pluto.

In 2001, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), artist/designer; Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939), businessman; Jack Palance (1919-2006), actor; Len Deighton (1929- ), author; Toni Morrison (1931-2019), author; Milos Forman (19322018), filmmaker; Yoko Ono (1933- ), singer/performance artist; John Hughes (1950-2009), filmmaker; John Travolta (1954- ), actor; Vanna White (1957- ), TV personality; Matt Dillon (1964- ), actor; Dr. Dre (1965- ), rapper/record producer; Jillian Michaels (1974- ), TV personality.

TODAY’S FACT: Snow has fallen on the Sahara Desert only twice in recorded weather history: on this date in 1979 and on Jan. 17, 2012. TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2001, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. was fatally injured in a three-car crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Perhaps all fear is worse than reality, just as all hope is better than fulfilment.” — Len Deighton, “Berlin Game”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 5th -- place held by “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” on the American Library Association’s list of books whose availability in schools and libraries was most frequently challenged in the 1990s. For the decade ending in 2009, it had dropped to 14th place.

TODAY’S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 15) and new moon (Feb. 23).