Today in History: February 8, the Orangeburg Massacre
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In 1693, a charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony.
In 1904, Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian Navy at Port Arthur (now Dalian, China), marking the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War.
In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated by William D. Boyce.
In 1915, D.W. Griffith's controversial epic film 'The Birth of a Nation' premiered in Los Angeles, Calif.
In 1924, the first execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, was put to death.
In 1936, the first NFL draft was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia.
In 1960, work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
In 1968, three Black students were killed and 28 wounded as state troopers opened fire on student demonstrators on the campus of South Carolina State College in Orangeburg in the wake of protests over a whites-only bowling alley. The event would become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
In 1971, NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.
In 2013, a massive storm packing hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions began sweeping through the Northeast, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to more than a half a million customers.
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An unarmed but nuclear-capable United States Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launching during an operational test at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 21. An unarmed but nuclear-capable United States Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launching during an operational test at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 21. Senior Airman Kadielle Shaw/U.S. Space Force What People Are Saying The Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition said in a news release on Wednesday: "The United States and Russia account for more than 80 percent of the total number of active nuclear warheads and needless to say bear a special responsibility for nuclear disarmament, but the remaining seven countries' share also increased from 12 percent in 2018 to 17 percent in 2025." U.S. Air Force General Anthony J. Cotton, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 26: "To effectively deter adversaries across the spectrum of threats requires sustained legacy triad systems and urgently completing the multigenerational, decades-long modernization of all three legs of the nuclear deterrent and its critical [nuclear command, control and communications] systems." Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said on February 27: "On defense budget, the U.S. military spending has topped the world for many years in a row and is higher than that of the following eight countries combined, which deeply concerns the international community. I believe that the U.S. should put 'America First' into practice in this regard, and be the first to cut its nuclear arsenal and military expenditure." 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