On Feb. 6, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the United States won official recognition and military support from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris.

In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate; the treaty ended the Spanish-American War and ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States.

In 1952, Britain’s King George VI, 56, died at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England; he was succeeded by his 25-year-old daughter, who became Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2008, the Bush White House defended the use of the waterboarding interrogation technique, saying it was legal, not torture, and had saved American lives.

In 2013, Hasbro announced that Monopoly fans had voted online to add a cat token to the board game, replacing the iron.