On this day: February 7
POSTED: 04:01 PM PST Feb 06, 2013
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Feb 06, 2013
The Mississippi River is rocked by earthquakes, Baltimore burns, Chaplin debuts "The Tramp," The Beatles arrive in America, and space shuttle astronauts make the first untethered spacewalk, all on this day.
Public domain
1990: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to endorse President Mikhail Gorbachev's recommendation that the party give up its 70-year long monopoly of political power. The committee's decision to allow political challenges to the party's dominance in Russia was yet another signal of the impending collapse of the Soviet system.
