Today in History: February 9, the Beatles first performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show'

Boston Globe

09-02-2025

Also, in Cambridge, Mass., the Second Provincial Congress of the Massachusetts colony, which served as the shadow government of the colony apart from the military oversight of General Thomas Gage, issued a declaration to the residents of the colony that sought to rally support for the Congress and its cause: 'Friends and Fellow Sufferers: When a people entitled to that freedom, which your ancestors have nobly preserved, as the richest inheritance of their children, are invaded by the hand of oppression, and trampled on by the merciless feet of tyranny, resistance is so far from being criminal, that it becomes the christian and social duty of each individual…. Fleets, troops, and every implement of war, are sent into the province, with apparent design to wrest from you that freedom which it is your duty, even at the risk of your lives, to hand inviolate to posterity.' The Congress also set up a Committee on Safety, which would serve, essentially, as the executive branch of the shadow government, enacting the Congress's resolutions. It would eventually oversee the various militias descending on Boston.
In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
In 1943, the World War II Battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.
In 1950, in a speech to the Women's Republican Club in Wheeling, W. Va., Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin charged that the State Department was riddled with Communists.
In 1964, the Beatles made their first live American television appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' broadcast from New York on CBS. The quartet played five songs, including 'She Loves You,' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand,' to a crowd of screaming teenagers in person and more than 70 million viewers across the country.
In 1971, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in California's San Fernando Valley claimed 65 lives.
In 1984, Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, 69, died 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was followed by Konstantin Chernenko, who would only be in power for 13 months before his own death in office.
In 1986, Halley's Comet made its closest pass by Earth since 1910. (The comet's next appearance will be in 2061).
In 2009, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs, telling ESPN he had used banned substances while with the Texas Rangers for three years.
In 2020, 'Parasite,' a film from South Korea, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, becoming the first non-English language film to do so.
In 2021, the Senate moved ahead with a second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, rejecting arguments that the chamber could not proceed because Trump was no longer in office.
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