Today in History

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 10, the 41st day of 2021. There are 324 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Feb. 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, dealing with presidential disability and succession, was ratified as Minnesota and Nevada adopted it.

On this date:

In 1763, Britain, Spain and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years' War (also known as the French and Indian War in North America).

In 1840, Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1933, the first singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegram Co. in New York.

In 1936, Nazi Germany's Reichstag passed a law investing the Gestapo secret police with absolute authority, exempt from any legal review.

In 1959, a major tornado tore through the St. Louis area, killing 21 people and causing heavy damage.

In 1962, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States.

In 1992, boxer Mike Tyson was convicted in Indianapolis of raping Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant. (Tyson served three years in prison.) "Roots" author Alex Haley died in Seattle at age 70.

In 1997, a civil jury heaped $25 million in punitive damages on O.J. Simpson for the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, on top of $8.5 million in compensatory damages awarded earlier.

In 2005, Britain's Prince Charles announced he would marry his divorced lover, Camilla Parker Bowles, in April. North Korea boasted publicly for the first time that it possessed nuclear weapons.

In 2006, Dr. Norman Shumway, who performed the first successful U.S. heart transplant, died in Palo Alto, California, at age 83.

In 2014, former film star and diplomat Shirley Temple Black, 85, died at her home near San Francisco.

In 2015, the parents of Kayla Jean Mueller and U.S. officials confirmed the death of the 26-year-old aid worker who had been held captive by the Islamic State group (IS said Mueller had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike). NBC announced it was suspending Brian Williams as "Nightly News" anchor and managing editor for six months without pay for misleading the public about his experiences covering the Iraq War. Jon Stewart announced he would step down as host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central later in the year.

Ten years ago: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down or leave the country and instead handed his powers to his vice president, stunning protesters in central Cairo who waved their shoes in contempt and shouted, "Leave, leave, leave." (Mubarak resigned the next day.)

Five years ago: Senate Democrats and Republicans united behind tougher sanctions on North Korea for violating international law by pursuing nuclear weapons. President Barack Obama took a nostalgic trip to the Illinois capital of Springfield where he launched his national political career nine years earlier. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Former Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis, 84, died in Prescott, Arizona.

One year ago: U.S. health officials confirmed the first case of the novel coronavirus among the hundreds of people who'd been evacuated from China to military bases in the United States; it was among the 13 confirmed cases in the U.S. Britain declared the new coronavirus a "serious and imminent threat to public health" and said people with the virus could now be forcibly quarantined. U.S. prosecutors charged four members of the Chinese military with breaking into the computer networks of the Equifax credit reporting agency and stealing the personal information of tens of millions of Americans.

Today's Birthdays: Opera singer Leontyne Price is 94. Actor Robert Wagner is 91. Rock musician Don Wilson (The Ventures) is 88. Singer Roberta Flack is 84. Singer Jimmy Merchant (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 81. Rock musician Bob Spalding (The Ventures) is 74. Olympic gold-medal swimmer Mark Spitz is 71. Walt Disney Co. executive Robert Iger is 70. Rock musician and composer Cory Lerios (Pablo Cruise) is 70. World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman is 66. Actor Kathleen Beller is 65. Country singer Lionel Cartwright is 61. Movie director Alexander Payne is 60. ABC News correspondent George Stephanopoulos is 60. Political commentator Glenn Beck is 57. Actor Laura Dern is 54. Writer-producer-director Vince Gilligan (TV: "Breaking Bad") is 54. Country singer Dude Mowrey is 49. Actor Jason Olive is 49. Actor Elizabeth Banks is 47. Actor Julia Pace Mitchell is 43. Reggaeton singer Don Omar is 43. Actor Uzo Aduba is 40. Actor Stephanie Beatriz is 40. Actor Max Brown is 40. Actor Barry Sloane is 40. Rock singer Eric Dill is 39. Actor Trevante Rhodes is 31. Actor Emma Roberts is 30. Actor Makenzie Vega is 27. Actor Chloe Grace Moretz is 24. Actor Yara Shahidi is 21.