Today is Saturday, February 21, the 52nd day of 2026. There are only 313 days left in the year.
This day in history:
On February 21, 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Albertville Winter Olympics; Japan’s Midori Ito won silver, and American Nancy Kerrigan took bronze.
Also on this date:
In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the “Communist Manifesto” in London.
In 1885, President Chester Arthur dedicated the Washington Monument.
In 1911, composer Gustav Mahler, despite a fever, conducted the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in what turned out to be his final concert. (He died the following May.)
In 1916, the Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of World War I, began in northeastern France.
In 1965, civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot dead inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York. Three men identified as members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually released on parole. (The sentences of the two men were overturned in November 2021, when prosecutors said new evidence had weakened the case against them.)
In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon embarked on a historic visit to China, where he met with Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
In 1973, Israeli warplanes shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 after it strayed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Desert, killing all but five of the 113 people on board.
In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, and former White House Internal Affairs Counsel John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up. (Each ultimately served less than two years.)
In 1995, American adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Saskatchewan, Canada, after a four-day, 5,400-mile flight from South Korea.
Today’s birthday:
- Film and music executive David Geffen is 83 years old.
- Actor Tyne Daly is 80 years old.
- Actor Anthony Daniels is 80 years old.
- Actor William Petersen is 73 years old.
- Actor Kelsey Grammer is 71 years old.
- Country musician Mary Chapin Carpenter is 68 years old.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Alan Trammell was 68 years old.
- Actor William Baldwin is 63 years old.
- Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona is 62 years old.
- Actor Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is 57 years old.
- Musician Rhiannon Giddens is 49 years old.
- Actor Tituss Burgess is 47 years old.
- Actor Jennifer Love Hewitt is 47 years old.
- Filmmaker-comedian Jordan Peele is 47 years old.
- Singer Charlotte Church is 40 years old.
- Actor Joe Alwyn is 35 years old.
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