Today in history

Today is Friday, Feb. 12, the 43rd day of 2021. There are 322 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Feb. 12, 1973, Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.

On this date:

In 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in a log cabin in Hardin (now LaRue) County, Kentucky.

In 1818, Chile officially proclaimed its independence, more than seven years after initially renouncing Spanish rule.

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.

In 1912, Pu Yi (poo yee), the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1914, groundbreaking took place for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (A year later on this date, the cornerstone was laid.)

In 1924, George Gershwin’s

“Rhapsody in Blue” premiered in New York.

In 1959, the redesigned Lincoln penny — with an image of the Lincoln Memorial replacing two ears of wheat on the reverse side — went into circulation.

In 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.

In 2000, Hall of Fame football coach Tom Landry, who’d led the Dallas Cowboys to five Super Bowls, died in Irving, Texas, at age 75.

In 2003, the U.N. nuclear agency declared North Korea in violation of international treaties, sending the dispute to the Security Council.

In 2013, At the Grammy Awards, Adele took home all five awards she was nominated for, including album (“25 ), as well as record and song of the year (“Hello”).

In 2019, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was convicted in New York of running an industrialscale smuggling operation; a jury whose members’ identities were kept secret as a security measure had deliberated for six days.