1861Months before the Civil War breaks out, Jefferson Davis is sworn in as President of the newly formed Confederate States of America.

1970Five of the Chicago Seven defenders are found guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The convictions are later overturned.

2001That's when FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested accused of spying for Moscow for years. At first Hanssen pleads innocent, but then changes his plea to guilty, and he is sentenced to life in prison.

Also that same year“We've lost Dale Earnhardt.”

In Florida, auto racing star Dale Earnhardt, Sr. dies from injuries received in a crash of the Daytona 500. He was 49.

And in 1954:

Actor John Travolta whose movie roles include Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Pulp Fiction, is born in Englewood, New Jersey.

Today in History, February 18th, John Belmar, the Associated Press.