Today in History

On Feb. 10, 1940, MGM released the animated short "Puss Gets the Boot," the debut of Tom and Jerry (although in this cartoon, the cat is called "Jasper" by its owner while the mouse was dubbed "Jinx" by creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera).

On this date:

In 1763, Britain, Spain and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years' War (also known as the French and Indian War in North America).

In 1840, Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1841, Upper Canada and Lower Canada were proclaimed united under an Act of Union passed by the British Parliament.

In 1933, the first singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegram Co. in New York.

In 1949, Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" opened at Broadway's Morosco Theater with Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman.

In 1959, a major tornado tore through the St. Louis area, killing 21 people and causing heavy damage.

In 1962, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States. Republican George W. Romney announced his ultimately successful candidacy for governor of Michigan.

In 1967, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, dealing with presidential disability and succession, was ratified as Minnesota and Nevada adopted it.

In 1968, U.S. figure skater Peggy Fleming won America's only gold medal of the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.

In 1981, eight people were killed when a fire set by a busboy broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino.

In 1989, Ron Brown was elected the first black chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

In 1998, Dr. David Satcher was confirmed by the Senate to be surgeon general.

Ten years ago: Playwright Arthur Miller died in Roxbury, Connecticut, at age 89 on the 56th anniversary of the Broadway opening of "Death of a Salesman." Britain's Prince Charles announced he would marry his divorced lover, Camilla Parker Bowles, in April. North Koreaboasted publicly for the first time that it possessed nuclear weapons. New York civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart was convicted of smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients, radical Egyptian sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, to his terrorist disciples on the outside. (Stewart was initially sentenced to two years, four months in prison, but had that sentence increased to 10 years; she was released in Dec. 2013 because of her terminal cancer.)

Five years ago: Shuttle Endeavour arrived to a warm welcome at the International Space Station, delivering a new room and observation deck. Former Congressman Charlie Wilson, a Texas Democrat whose funding of Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie and book "Charlie Wilson's War," died in Dallas at age 76.

One year ago: In Iraq, an instructor teaching his militant recruits how to make car bombs accidentally set off explosives in his demonstration, killing 21 of them in a blast that alerted authorities to the existence of a training camp north of Baghdad. Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany won Olympic gold at Sochi in the super-combined less than a second ahead of both silver medalist Nicole Hosp of Austria and Julia Mancuso of the United States, who won the bronze. Actress-turned-diplomat Shirley Temple Black, 85, died at her home near San Francisco.