On this day

February 10, 1940

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from February 10, 1940

Notable Births

Mary Rand

1940Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper[†]

Mary Denise Rand, MBE is a British former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. Until Emma Finucane in 2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games.

Kenny Rankin

1940Kenny Rankin, American singer-songwriter (died 2009)[†]

Kenneth Joseph Rankin was an American singer and songwriter in the folk rock and singer-songwriter genres; he was influenced by jazz. Rankin often sang notes which were in a high range to express emotion.

Historical Events

Soviet Union

1940The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.[†]

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly referred to as the Soviet Union or Russia, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing borders with twelve countries, and the third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.