1964 The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
WAR!
1861 The general council of the Choctaw Indian nation adopted a resolution declaring allegiance with the South "in the event a permanent dissolution of the American Union takes place."
1862 Federal fleet attack on Roanoke Island NC.
1864 Federal troops occupy Jacksonville FL.
2003 President Bush courted the leaders of France and China in an uphill struggle to win U.N. backing for war with Iraq.
2007 U.S. officials confirmed a new security operation was under way in Baghdad; U.S. armor rushed through streets, and Iraqi armored personnel carriers guarded bridges and major intersections. A Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Anbar, killing all seven people on board.
TERRORISM
1969 Al-Fatah-leader Yasser Arafat becomes president of PLO.
2003 The government raised its terror threat level to "high risk" orange, warning of a growing possibility that the al-Qaida network would launch an attack against the United States to coincide with Muslim holy days.
2003 Colombian guerillas bombed the exclusive El Nogal social club in Bogota, killing 36 people and injuring 160 others.
DISASTER
1812 8.2 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO; this is the last of Midwest quakes (see 12/16).
1904 A fire began in Baltimore that raged for about 30 hours and destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in 80 blocks.
1962 Gas explosion in Luisanthal coal mine Voelklingen Germany kills 298.
FLAVORS
1964 Baskin-Robbins introduces Beatle Nut ice cream.
RATIONING
1943 the government announced the start of shoe rationing, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person for the remainder of the year.
QUACKS
1979 Josef Mengele concentration camp doctor, drowns.
WEDDINGS
1993 Pebbles Flintstone & Bamm Bamm Rubble wed.
SURGERY
1965 George Harrison of the Beatles, has his tonsils removed.
BUBBLE BOY
1984 David (born without immunity system) at 12, touches mom for 1st time.
SPORTS
1985 Marshall University's Bruce Morris scores a basket from 92'5¼".
UNREST
1990 Karachi police kill 22 anti-nationalistic demonstrators.
EXECUTIONS
1920 Alexander Koltsjak Admiral/leader Russian counter-revolutionary, executed.
SHOCK JOCKS
1994 Howard Stern stops a would-be jumper on the George Washington Bridge.
POLITICS
1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president".
1905 Oklahoma admitted to statehood.
BARE KNUCKLES
1882 Last bare knuckle champion John L Sullivan KOs Paddy Ryan in Mississippi.
PREDICTIONS
1945 General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
NANNY STATE
1976 FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WCPR (Brooklyn NY).
JEWS
1947 Arabs & Jews reject British proposal to split Palestine.
MUSLIMS
1964 Cassius Clay becomes a Muslim & adopts the name Muhammad Ali.
TRIAL
1857 A French court acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel "Madame Bovary."
CLIMATE
1891 Great Blizzard of 1891 begins.
COMMIES
1950 Senator Joe McCarthy finds communists in US Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
IKE
1948 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by General Omar Bradley.
WOMEN
1983 Elizabeth H. Dole was sworn in as the first female secretary of transportation by the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
SCIENCE
1984 Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered space walk.
CARTOONS
1936 Felix the Cat, Cartoon Character, by Van Beuren from Otto Messmer.
MOVIES
1940 Walt Disney's 2nd feature-length movie, "Pinocchio", premieres (New York NY).
1974 Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters.
BORN
1478 Sir Thomas More lawyer/lord chancellor of England/saint (Utopia).
1804 John Deere pioneer manufacturer of agricultural implements.
1812 Author Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.
1817 Frederick Douglass Maryland, 1st high ranking black in US government.
1885 Sinclair Lewis novelist/social critic (Main Street, Nobel 1930).
1908 Clarence Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe Oakland CA, swimmer (Olympics-gold-1932)/actor (Tarzan the Fearless, Flash Gordon).
BIRTHDAYS
Country singer Wilma Lee Cooper is 87. Author Gay Talese is 76. Actor Miguel Ferrer is 53. Reggae musician Brian Travers (UB40) is 49. Actor James Spader is 48. Country singer Garth Brooks is 46. Rock musician David Bryan (Bon Jovi) is 46. Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard is 46. Actor-comedian Chris Rock is 43. Actor Jason Gedrick is 41. Actor Ashton Kutcher is 30. Actress Tina Majorino is 23.
DEATH
1993 Arthur Ashe tennis star (Wimbledon 1975), dies of AIDS at 49.
1998 It was announced that Carl Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, had died in Los Angeles from complications of lung cancer; he was 51.
2003 Tom Christerson, the longest-living recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart, died at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., after 512 days on the AbioCor; he was 71.
February 7, the 38th day of 2008. There are 328 days left in the year. This is the Lunar New Year of the Rat.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: rhythms-riffs
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
