President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes boosting the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. He pushes the plan after the Court strikes down key parts of his new deal program during the Great Depression.

"The Court itself can best undo what the Court  has done.”

But critics accuse Roosevelt of trying to pack the High Court, and he suffers his first major defeat in Congress.

1994In Mississippi, Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers more than 30 years earlier. Beckwith, a white supremacist gets life in prison. He dies behind bars nearly seven years later.

1914:

William S.Burroughs, one of the writers during the Beat Movement of the 1950s is born in St. Louis.

1967:

"We're gonna do a little ditty that's gonna make everybody a happy time.""I'm not, you, I'm not."The Smother's Brother Comedy Hour the TV variety show for the 16th counterculture premieres on CBS.

And 1934Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron is born in Mobile, Alabama.

Today in History, February 5th, Ross Simpson, the Associated Press.