Today is Friday, Feb. 7, the 38th day of 2020. There are 328 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to begin their first American tour.
On this date:
In 1812, author Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Portsmouth, England.
In 1817, America’s first public gas street lamp was lighted in Baltimore at the corner of Market and Lemon streets (now East Baltimore and Holliday streets).
In 1940, Walt Disney’s second animated feature, “Pinocchio,” premiered in New York.
In 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.)
In 1948, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as U.S. Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by Gen. Omar Bradley.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy imposed a full trade embargo on Cuba.
In 1984, space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk, which lasted nearly six hours.
In 1986, the Philippines held a presidential election marred by charges of fraud against the incumbent, Ferdinand E. Marcos. Haitian President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier (doo-VAHL-yay’) fled his country, ending 28 years of his family’s rule.
In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (zhahn behr-TRAHN’ ahr-ihs-TEED’) was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of Haiti (he was overthrown by the military the following September).
In 1998, the Winter Olympic Games were opened in Nagano, Japan, by Emperor Akihito.
In 1999, Jordan’s King Hussein died of cancer at age 63; he was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah (ab-DUHL’-uh).
In 2001, death claimed singer-actress Dale Evans at age 88 and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, widow of aviator Charles Lindbergh, at age 94.
