Today is Thursday, Feb. 9, the 40th day of 2017. There are 325 days left in the year.
Today's Highlights in History:
On Feb. 9, 1942, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II. Daylight-saving "War Time" went into effect in the United States, with clocks moved one hour forward. The SS Normandie, a former French liner being refitted for the U.S. Navy at a New York pier, caught fire (it capsized early the next morning).
On this date:
In 1773, the ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Virginia.
In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America at a congress held in Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau was established.
In 1933, the Oxford Union Society approved, 275-153, a motion "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country," a stand that was widely denounced. (On this date in 1983, the Oxford Union rejected, 416-187, a motion "that this House would not fight for Queen and Country.")
In 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.
In 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.
In 1964, The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," broadcast from New York by CBS.
In 1971, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in California's San Fernando Valley claimed 65 lives. The crew of Apollo 14 returned to Earth after man's third landing on the moon.
In 1984, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov, 69, died 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was followed by Konstantin U. Chernenko (chehr-NYEN'-koh).
In 1997, Best Products closed the last of its stores, a victim of the diminishing allure of the catalog showroom concept of retailing.
In 2002, Britain's Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, died in London at age 71.
