On This Day: McCarthy warns of communists in State Department

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1825, after no presidential candidate won the necessary majority, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams the sixth president of the United States.

In 1900, the solid silver trophy known as the Davis Cup was first put up for competition when American collegian Dwight Filley Davis challenged British tennis players to compete against his Harvard team.

In 1943, in a major World War II strategic victory, the Allies retook Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from the Japanese.

In 1950, U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the U.S. State Department was infested with communists, touching off the infamous "McCarthy era." The State Department denied the allegation the next day.

In 1964, the Beatles appeared on television's The Ed Sullivan Show. An estimated 73 million people watched.

In 1971, Satchel Paige became the first Negro League player voted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

In 1984, Soviet President Yuri Andropov, in power 15 months, died at age 69.

UPI File Photo

In 1991, Lithuanians overwhelmingly voted to secede from the Soviet Union.

In 2001, the submarine USS Greeneville collided with the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fishery training boat, off the coast of Oahu in Hawaii during a surfacing drill. Nine people on the fishing vessel were killed. The victims included four high school students.

In 2008, the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis delivered a $2 billion European-made science lab to the International Space Station, doubling its zero-gravity research capacity.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a memorandum setting up a federal task force to tackle childhood obesity.

File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI

In 2013, Afzal Guru, who authorities said was the mastermind behind a 2001 attack on India's Parliament, killing, seven people, was executed in New Delhi.

In 2019, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts made her 2020 bid for the presidency official.

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI