A Blast From The Past

Today is Feb. 7.

It was on this date in 1964 that Beatlemania reached the shores of North America with the arrival of the Beatles at New York's Kennedy Airport. Thousands of screaming fans were on hand to welcome them. John, Paul, George and Ringo were in the United States for a brief tour and to perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

The Senate voted on this day in 1973 to set up a committee to investigate the break-in that had occurred the previous June at the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. What they would find was a cover-up that reached all the way to the Oval Office and led to the resignation of President Nixon in August 1974.

On this date in 1986, both Ferdinand Marcos and challenger Corazon Aquino claimed victory in the Philippine presidential election. What became known as the "People's Revolution" would force Marcos and his family to flee the country later in the month, leaving behind Imelda's thousands of pairs of shoes.

Also in 1986, Haiti's President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled to France. "Baby Doc" -- as he was called, but probably not to his face -- had succeeded his dictator father, "Papa Doc," in ruling the Caribbean island nation with an iron fist.

Five years later, in 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was inaugurated as Haiti's first democratically elected president in 186 years. A military coup would later oust Aristide, but the threat of a U.S. invasion restored him to office.

Sen. Bob Packwood apparently had been a very busy man: on this date in 1993, another 13 women accused the Oregon Republican of improper advances, bringing the total to 23 women who had said the lawmaker harassed them with unwelcome sexual overtures.

And on this day in 1959, 1,000 mourners attended Buddy Holly's funeral in Lubbock, Texas. He'd been killed four days earlier -- along with J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Richie Valens -- when their plane crashed in an Iowa cornfield.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.