Today in History: February 19, FDR signs order authorizing Japanese-American internment

On Feb. 19, 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the internment of 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.

Also on this date:

In 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.

In 1847, the first rescuers reached members of the Donner Party, who had been snowbound in the Sierra Nevada near the California-Nevada border for nearly four months.

In 1878, inventor Thomas Edison was issued a patent for the phonograph.

In 1945, Operation Detachment began during World War II as the first wave of U.S. Marines landed at Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful monthlong battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford, calling the issuing of the 1942 internment order for people of Japanese ancestry “a sad day in American history,” signed a proclamation formally confirming its termination.

In 2003, an Iranian military plane carrying members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all 275 people on board.

In 2008, an ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; his brother Raúl was later named to succeed him. Fidel Castro died in 2016 at the age of 90.

In 2025, the ocean liner SS United States, which shattered the transatlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952, departed Philadelphia's Delaware River waterfront under tow for Mobile, Alabama, for prep work before officials sink it off Florida’s Gulf Coast to create the world's largest artificial reef.

Today’s birthdays: Singer Smokey Robinson is 86. Rock musician Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) is 78. Author Amy Tan is 74. Actor Jeff Daniels is 71. Actor Ray Winstone is 69. Actor Leslie David Baker is 68. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is 67. Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlíková is 64. Singer Seal is 63. Actor Benicio Del Toro is 59. Author-cartoonist Jeff Kinney is 55. NBA center Nikola Jokić is 31. Singer-songwriter Chappell Roan is 28. Actor David Mazouz is 25. Actor Millie Bobby Brown is 22.