On This Day: John Quincy Adams Elected President

On Feb. 8, 1587, Mary I of Scotland was beheaded for her alleged role in a conspiracy against her cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England.

On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles were greeted by thousands of screaming fans as they landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to begin their first American tour, highlighted by three performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

On Feb. 6, 1820, a ship of freed black slaves set sail from New York for the coast of West Africa, where they would found the nation of Liberia.

On Feb. 5, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented Congress with legislation intended to manufacture Supreme Court approval for his New Deal.

On Feb. 4, 1974, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst, granddaughter of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. After being brainwashed, Hearst joined the SLA and participated in a bank robbery for which he she was later convicted.

On Feb. 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash. The day would be immortalized as “The Day the Music Died” in the Don McLean song “American Pie.”

On Feb. 2, 1887, Punxsutawney, Pa., celebrated the first official Groundhog Day, a holiday with roots in ancient traditions.

On Feb. 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini arrived in Iran to a welcoming crowd, ending 15 years in exile.

On Jan. 31, 1949, an NBC station in Chicago aired the first episode of Irna Phillips’ “These Are My Children,” the first daytime soap opera on a major television network.

On Jan. 30, 1972, British soldiers opened fire on Catholic marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people and fatally wounding another.

On Jan. 29, 1936, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were named the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On Jan. 28, 1982, American Brig. Gen. James Dozier was rescued in an Italian counterterrorist operation after the Red Brigades had held him in captivity for 42 days.

On Jan. 27, 1967, the Apollo capsule caught fire during a test, killing crew members Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee.

On Jan. 26, 1969, Prague police broke up a peaceful march honoring Jan Palach, who 10 days earlier had set himself on fire to protest the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.

On Jan. 25, 2004, the NASA rover Opportunity landed on Mars. It joined its twin, Spirit, which had landed three weeks earlier.

On Jan. 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold in a river near Sutter’s mill, sparking the California Gold Rush.

On Jan. 23, 1968, North Korea captured the USS Pueblo Navy ship, holding the crew captive for 11 months.

On Jan. 22, 1998, Ted Kaczynski—aka the Unabomber—evaded the death penalty on a plea bargain.