On February 23, 1980, speed skater Eric Heiden wins the 10,000-meter race at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, setting a world record with his time and winning an unprecedented fifth gold medal at the games.

On February 23, 1978, Grammy voters make history by failing to settle on a winner for the year’s Best Song.

On February 23, 1958, five-time Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina is kidnapped in Cuba by a group of Fidel Castro’s rebels.

In a landmark event for public health, Pittsburgh led the way in 1954 with the first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio, utilizing the groundbreaking Salk vaccine.

On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, receive the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by Dr.

Folk singer Woody Guthrie writes one of his best-known songs, “This Land is Your Land.

In 1903, a significant agreement between the United States and Cuba reshaped the geopolitical landscape of the Caribbean, as President Theodore Roosevelt officially signed a lease for the area surrounding Guantanamo Bay.

On February 23, 1868, William Edward Burghardt (W.

On February 23, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives in Washington, D.

A siege by Mexican forces of the Alamo mission compound in Texas began on this day. It lasted 13 days and led to one of the most famous battles in US history.