Today in History.....February 7

On this day in …

* 1904, a massive fire, possibly started by a discarded cigarette, struck Baltimore, burning for 31 hours and destroying an 80-block downtown area. Miraculously no lives or homes were lost.

* 1915, first wireless message sent from a moving train to a station

* 1936, President Roosevelt authorized a flag for the office of the vice president

* 1944, during World War II, the Germans launched a counteroffensive at Anzio, Italy

* 1949, Joe DiMaggio becomes first $100,000 a year baseball player (NY Yankees)

* 1962, President Kennedy begins blockade of Cuba

* 1964, The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport

* 1984, space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L.
Stewart went on the first untethered space walk

* 1986, the Philippines held a presidential election marred by charges of fraud against the incumbent, Ferdinand E. Marcos. ALSO:
Haitian President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled his country, ending 28 years of his family's rule

* 2000, the Senate voted to release $582 million in dues owed the United Nations. ALSO: The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a trip to the international space station. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti's president