FILE - In this Feb. 21, 1985 file photo, Liberace poses with a one-of-a-kind 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I, in New York. The British businessman who bought Liberace's 15,000-square-foot Las Vegas mansion for half a million dollars said Friday, Aug. 30, 2013, he plans to work on it relentlessly to restore it to its former glory. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)

Today is Sunday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2021. There are 313 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On Feb. 21, 1965, minister and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.)

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Actress Farrah Fawcett poses during ceremonies honoring her with the 2,044th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, Ca., Thursday, Feb. 23, 1995. The star is dedicated in front of George's Hair Salon on Hollywood Boulevard. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

On this date

In 1862, Nathaniel Gordon became the first and only American slave-trader to be executed under the U.S. Piracy Law of 1820 as he was hanged in New York.

In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.

In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting.

In 1945, during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes with the loss of 318 men.

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro waves to the National Assembly in Havana, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008. During the Assembly lawmakers were deciding the country's new leadership just days after Cuba's president, 81-year-old Fidel Castro, announced he would not accept a nomination for a new presidential term. With his resignation, Castro ended nearly half a century on uninterrupted power.(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

In 1964, the first shipment of U.S. wheat purchased by the Soviet Union arrived in the port of Odessa.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing.

In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing all but five of the 113 people on board.

In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up (each ended up serving a year and a-half).

In 1995, Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean by balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Pall bearers carry the casket of playwright Tennessee Williams from the St. Louis Cathedral after his funeral, March 5, 1983. About 1,200 mourners attended the service. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)

In 2005, President George W. Bush, in Belgium for a NATO summit, scolded Russia for backsliding on democracy and urged Mideast allies to take difficult steps for peace.

In 2010, a mistaken U.S. missile attack killed 23 civilians in Afghanistan. (Four American officers were later reprimanded.) The United States stunned Canada 5-3 to advance to the Olympic men’s hockey quarterfinals in Vancouver. Bode (BOH’-dee) Miller finally captured his elusive gold medal, winning the super-combined for his third medal in three events.

In 2018, the Rev. Billy Graham, a confidant of presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died at his North Carolina home; he was 99. A week after the Florida school shooting, President Donald Trump met with teen survivors of school violence and parents of slain children; Trump promised to be “very strong on background checks” and suggested he supported letting some teachers and other school employees carry weapons.

Ten years ago: Deep cracks opened in Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, with Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots defecting and a major government building ablaze after clashes in the capital of Tripoli. Yemen’s embattled leader, President Ali Abdullah Saleh (AH’-lee ahb-DUH’-luh sah-LEH’), rejected demands that he step down, calling demonstrations against his regime unacceptable acts of provocation and offering to begin a dialogue with protesters.

Five years ago: Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs killed nearly 130 people. Pope Francis, speaking at the Vatican, urged Catholic leaders to show “exemplary” courage by not allowing executions “in this Holy Year of Mercy.” Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500, edging Martin Truex Jr. by inches at the finish line.

One year ago: Health officials said at least 18 Americans who’d returned home from a quarantined cruise ship in Japan were infected with the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the U.S. to at least 35. Italy reported its first coronavirus death as the number of confirmed cases in Italy more than quadrupled. A temporary truce between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan took effect, setting the stage for the two sides to sign a peace deal the following week. Greyhound, the nation’s largest bus company, said it would stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks. Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3 billion to settle criminal and civil investigations into a long-running practice in which employees opened millions of unauthorized bank accounts in order to meet sales goals.

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FEBRUARY 22

On Feb. 22, 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place in Lake Placid, New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.

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FEBRUARY 23

On Feb. 23, 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.

In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of a possible assassination plot in Baltimore.

In 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

In 1954, the first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh as some 5,000 students were vaccinated.

In 1965, film comedian Stan Laurel, 74, died in Santa Monica, California.

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FEBRUARY 24

On Feb. 24, 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson by a vote of 126-47 following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

In 1803, in its Marbury v. Madison decision, the Supreme Court established judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.

In 1938, the first nylon bristle toothbrush, manufactured by DuPont under the name “Dr. West’s Miracle Toothbrush,” went on sale.

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FEBRUARY 25

On Feb. 25, 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

In 1793, President George Washington held the first Cabinet meeting on record at his Mount Vernon home; attending were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.

In 1901, United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

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FEBRUARY 26

On Feb. 26, 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. (The bomb failed to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both structures were destroyed in the 9/11 attack eight years later.)

In 1940, the United States Air Defense Command was created.

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FEBRUARY 27

On Feb. 27, 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag (RYKS’-tahg), was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties.

In 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of women to vote.

In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.