By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 9, the 40th day of 2021. There are 325 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On Feb. 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

On this date:

In 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

In 1942, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.

In 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.

In 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.

In 1960, Adolph Coors Co. chairman Adolph Coors III, 44, was shot to death in suburban Denver during a botched kidnapping attempt. (The man who killed him, Joseph Corbett, Jr., served 19 years in prison.)

In 1962, an agreement was signed to make Jamaica an independent nation within the British Commonwealth later in the year.

In 1964, the Beatles made their first live American television appearance on ìThe Ed Sullivan Show,î broadcast from New York on CBS.

In 1971, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Californiaís San Fernando Valley claimed 65 lives. The crew of Apollo 14 returned to Earth after manís third landing on the moon.

In 1984, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov, 69, died 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was followed by Konstantin U. Chernenko (chehr-NYENí-koh).

In 1986, during its latest visit to the solar system, Halleyís Comet came closest to the sun (its next return will be in 2061).

In 1995, Former Senator J. William Fulbright died in Washington at age 89.

— — —