February 14th

Today's Highlight in History:
On February 14th, 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maude Wood Park.

On this date:
In 1778, the American ship "Ranger" carried the recently adopted Star and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France.

In 1859, Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.

In 1895, Oscar Wilde's final play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," opened at the St. James's Theatre in London.

In 1899, Congress approved, and President McKinley signed, legislation authorizing states to use voting machines for federal elections.

In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established.

In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union.

In 1929, the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down.

In 1945, Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador joined the United Nations.

In 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a televised tour of the White House.

In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," a novel condemned as blasphemous.

Ten years ago: Ninety-four people were killed when an Indian Airlines passenger jet crashed while landing at a southern Indian airport.

Five years ago: A federal judge rejected the Justice Department's proposed antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corporation; U- District Judge Stanley Sporkin was later overruled by an appeals court. The House passed the centerpiece of the Republican anti-crime package, voting to create block grants for local governments while eliminating President Clinton's program to hire more police (the president later vetoed a spending authorization bill containing this provision).

One year ago: President Clinton, accompanied by his wife, Hillary, began a quick visit to Mexico to encourage its struggle against narcotics and government corruption, and grow its markets for US products. John D. Ehrlichman, President Nixon's domestic affairs adviser who was disgraced and imprisoned for his role in the Watergate cover-up that ultimately led to Nixon's resignation, died in Atlanta at age 73.

"We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading as love."

-- R.D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist (1927-1989).