On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., which refused to serve them; similar protests sprang up across the South.
In 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court convened in New York City for its first session.
In 1859, operetta composer Victor Herbert was born in Dublin, Ireland.
In 1861, Texas voted to secede from the Union.
In 1865, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery.
In 1896, Puccini's opera "La Boheme" premiered in Turin, Italy.
In 1920, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into existence, merging the Royal North West Mounted Police and the Dominion Police.
In 1943, one of America's most highly decorated military units of World War II, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of Japanese-Americans, was authorized.
In 1946, Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie (TRIG'-vuh lee) was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.
In 1958, the United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria, was established. (Syria withdrew from the union in 1961.)
In 1959, men in Switzerland rejected giving women the right to vote by a more than 2-1 referendum margin. (Swiss women gained the right to vote in 1971.)
In 1968, during the Vietnam War, South Vietnam's police chief (Nguyen Ngoc Loan) executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head. Richard M. Nixon announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (hoh-MAY'-nee) received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.
Patty HearstIn 1991, 34 people were killed when a USAir jetliner crashed atop a commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport. South African President F.W. De Klerk announced that he would seek repeal of key laws on which the apartheid system was based. Also in 1991, at least 1,200 people were killed in an earthquake that struck Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 1996, a telecommunications bill cleared the U.S. Congress that would lift most restrictions on telephone competition and broadcast station ownership and also required V-chips in television sets.
In 1999, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave a deposition that was videotaped for senators weighing impeachment charges against President Bill Clinton. With the promise of huge federal surpluses, President Bill Clinton proposed a $1.77 trillion budget for fiscal 2000.
In 2000, Sen. John McCain defeated Texas Gov. George W. Bush to win the Republican New Hampshire primary; Vice President Al Gore edged Bill Bradley to win the Democratic primary.
In 2001, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said he and his wife would return $86,000 in gifts they received in 2000 but would keep $104,000 worth of others they received prior to 2000.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members: Commander Rick Husband; pilot William McCool; Michael Anderson; Kalpana Chawla; David Brown; Laurel Clark; and Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space.
President Bush: the Columbia is lost
In 2005, Pope John Paul II was hospitalized for breathing problems and the flu.
In 2006, French and German newspapers republished caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in what they called a defense of freedom of expression, sparking fresh anger from Muslims.
In 2008, remote-controlled explosives strapped to two women killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad. Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company -- $40.6 billion -- and the biggest quarterly profit to that time, breaking its own records. Microsoft announced an unsolicited bid for Yahoo, which later rejected it.
In 2009, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 to win Super Bowl XLIII (43). Rafael Nadal held off Roger Federer in another momentum-swinging five-set final to win the Australian Open, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2. Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" after a photo in a British newspaper showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.
Today's Birthdays: America's last surviving World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, is 109. Gospel singer George Beverly Shea is 101. Actor Stuart Whitman is 82. Singer Don Everly is 73. Actor Garrett Morris is 73. Singer Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) is 73. Actor Sherman Hemsley is 72. Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 71. Jazz musician Joe Sample is 71. TV personality-singer Joy Philbin is 69. Comedian Terry Jones is 68. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) is 66. Opera singer Carol Neblett is 64. Rock musician Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 60. Blues singer-musician Sonny Landreth is 59. Actor-writer-producer Bill Mumy (MOO'-mee) is 56. Rock singer Exene Cervenka is 54.
Those Born On The Date Include: Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, first woman elected to the Senate (1878); film director John Ford (1894); actor Clark Gable (1901-1960); poet Langston Hughes (1902); humorist S.J. Perelman (1904); cabaret singer Hildegarde Loretta Sell (1906); film and special effects director George Pal (1908); former Russian President Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1931-2007).
Today In Entertainment History
In 1893, inventor Thomas A. Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio in West Orange, N.J.
In 1950, RCA introduced the 45 RPM record player.
In 1954, Big Joe Turner recorded "Shake, Rattle and Roll."
In 1964, the governor of Indiana declared the song "Louie, Louie" by The Kingsmen to be pornographic, even though the average listener wasn't able to decipher the lyrics. The governor asked a state broadcasters' association to ban the record.
In 1968, Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, was born.
In 1978, the Bob Dylan film "Renaldo and Clara," a documentary of Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour, premiered in Los Angeles.
In 1982, "Late Night with David Letterman" premiered on NBC.
In 1986, Diana Ross married Arne Naess in Geneva, Switzerland. They later split up.
In 1988, The Cars announced their breakup.
In 1993, TV personality Regis Philbin returned to his morning talk show after undergoing heart surgery to have a blocked artery cleared.
In 2004, Justin Timberlake ripped Janet Jackson's top during the Super Bowl halftime show and exposed her breast. During that same show, Kid Rock wrapped himself in a poncho made of an American flag. [Oh my gawd! The outrage, the horror, the non-stop assault on decent American decency! — Ed.]
In 2005, actor John Vernon, who'd played Dean Wormer in "National Lampoon's Animal House," died in Los Angeles at age 72.
In 2009, Dewey Martin, 68, the drummer and singer who'd helped found the country rock band Buffalo Springfield, was found dead in Van Nuys, Calif.
Thought for Today: "Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared." — Eddie Rickenbacker, American war hero (1890-1973).
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