Today’s highlight:

On Feb. 9, 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America at a congress held in Montgomery, Ala. (He was inaugurated on Feb. 18.)

On this date:

In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams p

resident after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

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

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, W.Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.

In 1961, The Beatles (with Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best) first performed at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.

In 1964, The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” broadcast from New York on CBS.

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

Associated Press