Feb. 19
1473: Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.
1942: During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of about 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.
1945: Operation Detachment began as U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima, launching a monthlong battle to wrest control of the island from Japanese forces.
Feb. 20
1792: President George Washington signed legislation establishing the United States Post Office Department, predecessor to today’s U.S. Postal Service.
1907: President Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration law barring the entry of individuals deemed mentally unfit, including those labeled at the time as “idiots,” “imbeciles,” “feeble-minded persons,” “epileptics” and “insane persons.”
1962: Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, circling the globe three times aboard Project Mercury’s Friendship 7 spacecraft.
Feb. 21
1848: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto” in London.
1916: The Battle of Verdun, the longest engagement of World War I, began in northeastern France.
1965: Civil rights leader Malcolm X, 39, was assassinated at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York. Three Nation of Islam members were convicted.
Feb. 22
1732: George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.
1784: The merchant ship Empress of China departed New York on the first American trade voyage to China.1980: The “Miracle on Ice” unfolded at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the U.S. hockey team stunned the Soviet Union 4-3. The Americans went on to win the gold medal two days later with a 4-2 victory over Finland.
Feb. 23
1836: Mexican troops began the siege of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Nearly all of the roughly 200 Texas defenders, including Davy Crockett, were killed in the 13-day battle.
1903: President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement leasing land at Guantanamo Bay to the United States. The naval base remains in operation, along with a high-security detention facility.
1945: During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi and raised two American flags.
Feb. 24
1803: In Marbury v. Madison, the U.S. Supreme Court established the principle of judicial review, affirming its authority to determine the constitutionality of laws.
1942: The SS Struma, carrying nearly 800 Jewish refugees from Romania to British-mandated Palestine, was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea; all but one aboard were killed.
1988: The Supreme Court unanimously overturned a $200,000 award won by the Rev. Jerry Falwell against Hustler magazine and publisher Larry Flynt, expanding First Amendment protections for parody and satire.
Feb. 25
1913: The 16th Amendment, authorizing Congress to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.
1956: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev delivered a lengthy speech denouncing the brutality and “cult of personality” of his predecessor, Josef Stalin, at a Communist Party congress.
1964: Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won his first world heavyweight title, defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
