History for February 20

History for February 20 - On-This-Day.com:
William Prescott 1726 - American Revolutionary soldier, know for the quote "Don't fire until you see the white's of their eyes.", Sidney Poitier 1927 - Actor ("Lillies of the Field", "To Sir With Love"), Robert Altman 1925 - Director ("M*A*S*H") 


Bobby Unser 1934 - Race car driver, Roger Penske 1937 - Race car driver, Jennifer O'Neill 1948 - Actress ("Summer of '42") 


1792 - U.S. President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act thereby creating the U.S. Post Office.
 

1809 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government was greater than that of any individual state. 


1839 - The U.S. Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia. 


1872 - Luther Crowell received a patent for a machine that manufactured paper bags. 


1872 - Silas Noble and J.P. Cooley patented the toothpick manufacturing machine. 


1952 - "The African Queen" opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. 


1962 - John Glenn made space history when he orbited the world three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. He was the first American to orbit the Earth. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule. 


1987 - A bomb exploded in a computer store in Salt Lake City, UT. The blast was blamed on the Unabomber. 













1993 - Two ten-year-old boys were charged by police in Liverpool, England, in the abduction and death of a toddler. The two boys were later convicted. 


1998 - American Tara Lipinski, at age 15, became the youngest gold medalist in winter Olympics history when she won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, Japan. 


2003 - In West Warwick, RI, 99 people were killed when fire destroyed the nightclub The Station. The fire started with sparks from a pyrotechnic display being used by Great White. Ty Longley, guitarist for Great White, was one of the victims in the fire.