Today is Thursday, February 21st, the 52nd day of the year.There are 313 days until the end of the year.
On this day:
In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
In 1916, the World War One Battle of Verdun began in France.
In 1925, the first issue of "New Yorker" magazine was published.
in 1931, Alka Seltzer was first introduced to consumers.
In 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated his new camera which could take and develop a picture in about a minute.It became known as the Polaroid Land Camera.
In 1965, civil rights leader Malcolm X was shot to death while addressing a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.He was 39.
In 1972, President Nixon began his historic visit to China.
In 1982, legendary disc jockey Murray K died of cancer in Los Angeles.
In 1988, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he had an affair with a prostitute at a seedy motel.
In 2000, David Letterman returned to the late night airwaves for the first time since undergoing quintuple bypass surgery five weeks earlier.
In 2003, a deadly oil refinery explosion on Staten Island, New York shook homes and sent smoke and flames shooting hundreds of miles into the air.The explosion took place at the Exxon Mobil storage complex.At least two people were killed.
In 2011, more than 60 people were killed when a powerful magnitude six-point-three earthquake struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.The quake struck just five months after a seven-point-one magnitude quake hit Christchurch.
In 2016, Denny Hamlin won the 58th running of the Daytona 500 in the closest finish in race history.Hamlin edged out Martin Truex Jr. by 0.01 seconds for his first career Daytona 500 victory.