TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 20TH

1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

1872 – In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.

1873 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco.

1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

1920 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014) is born.

1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite is born.

1931 – The Congress of the United States approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

1933 – The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution that will end Prohibition in the United States.

1937 – Roger Penske, American race car driver and businessman is born.

1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager is born.

1942 – Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.

1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.

1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American skier and model is born.

1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.

1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.

1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster is born.

1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.

1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian-American singer-songwriter and actress is born.

1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916) dies.

1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

1999 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and critic (b. 1946) dies.

2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.

2003 – Ty Longley, American singer and guitarist (Great White and Samantha 7) (b. 1971) dies.

2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.