On Feb. 22, 1943, Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friend, Christoph Probst, members of a close-knit group of University of Munich students calling themselves “The White Rose,” were executed after being caught distributing leaflets urging Germans to resist Hitler and the Nazis. [For more see today’s commentary.)
On Feb. 22, 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated the four-time defending gold-medal-winning Soviet team 4 – 3 before a frenzied crowd of 10,000 spectators at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. The victory of the youthful American college players beating the Soviet squad, considered the best in the world, became known as “The Miracle on ice.”
On Feb. 22, 1732, George Washington, who would go on to become “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” was born in Virginia.