1879 – Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before the Supreme Court.
1898 – USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor and 258 sailors die. Cause of sinking is unknown.
1903 – First Teddy Bear introduced in America. It’s made by Morris & Rose Michtom.
1916 – New York Yankees buy Frank “Home Run” Baker from the Philadelphia Athletics for $32,700.
1918 – US Army troop ship torpedoed and sunk by Germany off Ireland.
1926 – Contract air mail service begins in the United States.
1932 – George Burns and Grace Allen debut as regulars on the “Guy Lombardo Show.”
1936 – Adolph Hitler announces construction of the Volkswagen, which was described as the People’s Car. It also was known as the Kafer/Beetle.
1943 – Wartime propaganda poster “We Can Do It!” produced by J. Howard Miller and posted on the walls of Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company’s plants in the midwest.
1950 – Walt Disney’s animated film “Cinderella” premieres in Boston.
1961 – Plane crash kills entire US figure skating team outside Brussels airport in Belgium enroute to World Championships in Prague from New York City. 73 crew and passengers, including 34 American skaters, coaches, officials, and other members, and a farmer on the ground are lost.
1972 – Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
1976 – 18th Daytona 500: David Pearson makes contact with Richard Petty just yards from the finish line and goes into a wall and to infield. Petty stalls while Pearson restarts to win.
1980 – American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 500-meter race in Olympic record 38.03 seconds. It’s the first of record 5 gold medals of events at Lake Placid, New York.
1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler is disqualified from Andy Williams Open for kneeling on a towel to make a shot.
1995 – Dow Jones closes at record 3986.17.
2002 – Walt Disney releases “Return to Never Land,” an animated film sequel to 1953’s “Peter Pan.”
2011 – President Barack Obama awards writer and activist Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
2019 – President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to divert funds to build a border wall after signing a bipartisan spending agreement to avoid another government shutdown.
2023 – Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder and a count of domestic terrorism.
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