Today in history: Feb. 23
During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags, and more events that happened on this day in history.
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1836: The Alamo
In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
1903: Guantanamo Bay
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba to lease the area around Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
1942: Santa Barbara, California
In 1942, the first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.
1945: Iwo Jima
In 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags (the second flag-raising was captured in the iconic Associated Press photograph.)
1954: The Salk Vaccine
In 1954, the first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh as some 5,000 students were vaccinated.
1965: Stan Laurel
In 1965, film comedian Stan Laurel, 74, died in Santa Monica, California.
1981: Spain
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.)
2006: Shizuka Arakawa
In 2006, Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa (shih-ZOO’-kuh ah-rah-KAH’-wah) stunned favorites Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya (sloot-SKY’-yah) of Russia to claim the ladies’ figure skating gold medal at the Turin Winter Olympics.
2007: Emmett Till
In 2007, a Mississippi grand jury refused to bring any new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, the Black teenager who was beaten and shot after being accused of whistling at a white woman, declining to indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for manslaughter.
2011: The Obama Administration
Ten years ago: In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.
2016: Donald Trump
Five years ago: Donald Trump won the Nevada Republican caucuses; Marco Rubio finished second while Ted Cruz placed third.
2020: Coronavirus
One year ago: Japan reported the third fatality from among those who’d been aboard a quarantined cruise ship. Iran raised its death toll to eight, the highest toll outside China; Italy reported 152 cases, the largest number outside of Asia, including three deaths. Italian authorities said they would shut down Venice’s famed Carnival events in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.
2020: Xi Jinping
One year ago: Chinese President Xi Jinping defended the Communist Party’s response to the coronavirus as “timely and effective,” but warned that the epidemic was still “grim and complex.”
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