TODAY IN HISTORY
Today’s highlight:
On Feb. 22, 2021, the number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 topped 500,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
On this date:
In 1630, English colonists in the Massachusetts Bay Colony first sampled popcorn brought to them by a Native American named Quadequina for their Thanksgiving celebration.
In 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.
In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left New York for the Far East to trade goods with China.
In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.
In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong strong- hold near the Cambodian border. (Although the communists were driven out, they later returned.)
In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place in Lake Placid, New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Sovi- ets, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)
In 1987, pop artist Andy Warhol died at a New York City hospital at age 58.
In 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named “Dolly.” (Dolly, however, was later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)
In 2010, Najibullah Zazi, accused of buying beauty supplies to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. (Zazi faced up to life in prison but spent nearly a decade after his arrest helping the U.S. identify and prosecute terrorists; he was given a 10-year sentence followed by supervised release.)
In 2016, the City Council of Charlotte, North Carolina, voted 7-4 to pass a new law allowing transgender people to choose public bathrooms that corresponded to their gender identity.
Ten years ago: The Justice Department joined a lawsuit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong alleging the former seven-time Tour de France champion had concealed his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Five years ago: Authorities announced that the armed officer who was on duty at the Parkland, Florida, school where a shooter killed 17 people never went into the building to engage the gunman.
One year ago: The EastWest face-off over Ukraine escalated dramatically, with Russian lawmakers authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. (Russia would invade Ukraine two days later.) In Georgia, the three white men convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting are found guilty of federal hate crimes for violating Arbery’s civil rights and targeting him because he was Black.