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Highlight in History
On Feb. 23, 1863, British explorers John H. Speke and James A. Grant announced they had found the source of the Nile River to be Lake Victoria. (This finding was disputed by Speke’s colleague, Richard F. Burton, who felt that proof was lacking, but the lake is now considered the Nile’s source.)
On this date
In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
In 1848, the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington, D.C., at age 80.
In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of a possible assassination plot in Baltimore.
In 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba to lease the area around Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.
In 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi.
In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
In 1965, film comedian Stan Laurel, 74, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
In 1970, Guyana became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1981, an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)
In 1992, the XVI Winter Olympic Games ended in Albertville, France.
Ten years ago
In West Warwick, R.I., relatives of the victims of a deadly nightclub fire were allowed to walk up to the charred rubble to pray and say goodbye. Norah Jones won five Grammys, including album and record of the year.
Five years ago
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other U.S. officials held daylong meetings with Australian leaders in Canberra. Former United Auto Workers president Douglas A. Fraser died in Southfield, Mich., at age 91.
One year ago
President Barack Obama, speaking in Miami, sought to confront public anxiety over rising gasoline prices as he promoted the expansion of domestic oil and gas exploration, as well as the development of new forms of energy. Former United Nationssecretary-general Kofi Annan was appointed the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis.
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Related Photos
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Dr. Jonas Salk, Pittsburgh scientist who discovered the Polio vaccine, administers an injection to an unidentified boy at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsbrugh, Pa., Feb. 23, 1954.
Discussion
Today in History for Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013
- National, International News
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Man shot by FBI had ties to Boston bombing suspect
A Chechen immigrant shot to death in Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent implicated himself in a triple slaying that officials believe may have been connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, authorities said.
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WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus
International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
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Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty; retrial set
Jurors who spent five months determining Jodi Arias’ fate couldn’t decide whether she should get life in prison or die for murdering her boyfriend, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case of sex, lies and violence to another 12 people.
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I-5 bridge collapses in Washington state
An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
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Today in History for Friday, May 24, 2013
Today is Friday, May 24, the 144th day of 2013. There are 221 days left in the year.
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Wave of attacks kills at least 95 in Iraq
A wave of attacks killed at least 95 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, pushing the death toll over the past week to more than 240 and extending one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.
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Arias attorneys will put one witness on: Arias
Complaining that Jodi Arias’ sensational murder case has become a modern-day “witch trial,” her lawyers tried to quit in the middle of the death-penalty phase Monday, then said they will call only one witness: Arias.
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Oklahoma twister tracked path of 1999 tornado
Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.
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Dozens killed as tornado ravages Oklahoma City area
A powerful late-afternoon tornado leveled much of this Oklahoma community Monday, killing at least 51 people. Reporters on helicopters flying above the scene described the scene as “devastating.”
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Today in History for Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.
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