TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 9TH

1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841) is born.

1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.

1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.

1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.

1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.

1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.

1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.

1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.

1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers across the USA.

1965 – The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.

1969 – First test flight of the Boeing 747.

1971 – The Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.

1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.

1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.

1973 – Max Yasgur, American farmer, owned the site of the Woodstock Festival (b. 1919) dies.

1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.

1981 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bill Haley & His Comets) (b. 1925) dies.

1986 – Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.

2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American toymaker, invented the Frisbee (b. 1920) dies.

2015 – Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (b. 1916) dies.