Today in History

Today’s highlight in history:

On Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members.

On this date:

In 1861, Texas voted to secede from the Union.

In 1896, Puccini’s opera “La Boheme” premiered in Turin.

In 1920, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into existence.

In 1943, one of America’s most highly decorated military units of World War II, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, was authorized.

In 1946, Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

In 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they’d been refused service.

In 1968, during the Vietnam War, Saigon’s police chief (Nguyen Ngoc Loan) executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head in a scene captured by Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams and NBC News.

In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

In 1982, 25 years ago, “Late Night with David Letterman” premiered on NBC.