February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the . There are 314 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).
+ 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
+ 1933 – The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution that will end Prohibition in the United States.
+ 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
+ 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
+ 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
+ 1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
( Births )
+ 1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
+ 1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver
+ 1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress
+ 1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
+ 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model
+ 1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author
+ 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
+ 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman
+ 1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player