Today in History: February 7, The Beatles arrive for their first US tour

Today is Saturday, Feb. 7, the 38th day of 2026. There are 327 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles were met by thousands of screaming fans at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport as they arrived to begin their first American tour.

Also on this date:

In 1904, the Great Baltimore Fire began; one of the worst city fires in American history, it destroyed over 1,500 buildings in central Baltimore.

In 1943, the U.S. government announced that wartime rationing of shoes made of leather would soon take effect, limiting the number of pairs a person could buy each year. (Rationing was lifted in 1945 after World War II ended.)

In 1971, women in Switzerland gained the right to vote through a national referendum, 12 years after a previous attempt failed.

In 1984, space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk.

In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of Haiti. (He was overthrown by the military the following September.)

In 1999, Jordan’s King Hussein died of cancer at age 63; he was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah.

In 2013, Mississippi certified its ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, making it the last state to officially abolish slavery.

In 2021, after moving south to a new team and conference, Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on the Buccaneers’ home field.

In 2023, LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time career scoring leader.

Today’s birthdays: Author Gay Talese is 94. Sen. John...