This Day In History

February

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In 1901 -- Clark Gable, actor (didn't give a damn about Scarlet O'Hara)
In 1920 -- The first armored car is introduced.
In 1951 -- First telecast of atomic explosion.
In 1951 -- First X-ray moving picture process demonstrated.
In 1952 -- Rick James, musician
In 1965 -- Princess Stephanie of Monaco
In 1968 -- Lisa Marie Presley, actress
In 1976 -- Sonny and Cher resumes on TV despite real life divorce.

2nd

In 1754 -- Talleyrand, French statesman and diplomat, born.
In 1848 -- First shipload of Chinese immigrants arrives in San Francisco, CA.
In 1848 -- Mexico sells U.S. Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona.
In 1876 -- National Baseball League formed with 8 teams.
In 1880 -- S.S. Strathleven arrives in London with first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia.
In 1882 -- James Joyce, writer, born.
In 1935 -- Lie detector first used in court at Portage, WI.
In 1947 -- Farrah Fawcett-Majors (in Texas), actress (Charlie's Angels), born.
In 1954 -- Christie Brinkley, model, born.
In 1962 -- 8 of the 9 planets aligned for the first time in 400 years.
In 1981 -- "Late Night with David Letterman" premiers.

3rd

In 1811 -- Horace Greeley, editor (told young men to go west), born.
In 1815 -- World's first commercial cheese factory is established in Switzerland.
In 1874 -- Gertrude Stein, writer, born.
In 1894 -- Norman Rockwell, artist, born.
In 1907 -- James Michener, writer, born.
In 1945 -- Yalta Conference agreed that Russia would enter WWII against Japan.
In 1950 -- Morgan Fairchild (in Dallas, TX), actress, born.
In 1964 -- "Meet the Beatles" goes gold.
In 1966 -- Luna 9, first lunar landing.
In 1984 -- Tenth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 4 is launched.

4th

In 1824 -- J. W. Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to the public.
In 1861 -- At Montgomery, Alabama, the Confederate States are organized.
In 1902 -- Charles A. Lindbergh, 'Lucky Lindy', born.
In 1932 -- First Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid, NY.
In 1936 -- First radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E).
In 1945 -- Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin began a conference at Yalta.
In 1947 -- Dan Quayle, U.S. Vice-president (1989-1992), alleged twit, born.
In 1948 -- Alice Cooper, musician, born.
In 1948 -- Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) gains independence from Britain.
In 1973 -- The Reshef - Israel's missile boat - is unveiled.
In 1980 -- Abolhassan Bani-Sadr was installed as president of Iran.

5th

In 1825 -- Hannah Lord Montague of New York grabs her scissors and creates the first detachable collar on one of her husband's shirts, in order to reduce her laundry load.
In 1837 -- Dwight Lyman Moody, evangelist, born.
In 1840 -- John Boyd Dunlop, developed the pneumatic rubber tire, born.
In 1848 -- Belle Starr, entertainer of the wild west, born.
In 1878 -- Andre-Gustave Citroen, French automaker, born.
In 1887 -- Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Othello" premiers.
In 1900 -- Adlai E. Stevenson, statesman, born.
In 1919 -- Red Buttons, comedian, actor, born.
In 1921 -- N.Y. Yankees purchase 20 acres in the Bronx for Yankee Stadium.
In 1937 -- FDR proposes enlarging Supreme Court, plan failed because critics feared it would allow "court packing" in his favor.
In 1946 -- Charlotte Rampling (in England), actress, born.
In 1948 -- Barbara Hershey (in Atlanta, Georgia), actress, born.
In 1969 -- Bobby Brown, singer, married to Whitney Houston, born.
In 1983 -- After being expelled from Bolivia, former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie was brought to Lyon, France to stand trial for alleged war crimes.

6th

In 1840 -- New Zealand Day
In 1861 -- English Admiral Robert Fitzroy issues storm warnings for ships putting out to sea, creating the first "weather forecast."
In 1895 -- George Herman 'Babe' Ruth, born.
In 1900 -- Spanish-American War ends.
In 1911 -- Ronald Reagan, 40th President (1981-1989), born.
In 1919 -- Zsa Zsa Gabor (in Budapest), actress, ex-con, born.
In 1940 -- Tom Brokaw, journalist, born.
In 1950 -- Natalie Cole (in Los Angeles, CA), singer, born.
In 1952 -- Elizabeth II becomes queen of Great Britain.
In 1986 -- Jean-Claude "Papa Doc" Duvalier is forced to leave Haiti.

7th

In 1804 -- John Deere, pioneer manufacturer of agricultural implements, born.
In 1812 -- Charles Dickens (in England), author, born.
In 1827 -- Ballet introduced to the U.S. at Bowery Theatre, New York City.
In 1882 -- Last bare knuckle champion John L. Sullivan KOs Paddy Ryan in Miss.
In 1944 -- The assault on Anzio begins.
In 1962 -- Garth Brooks, C&W singer, born.
In 1977 -- Soyuz 24 is launched.

8th

In 1587 -- Mary Queen of Scots executed.
In 1828 -- Jules Verne (in France), author who pioneered what later became science fiction, born.
In 1883 -- Louis Waterman begins experiments that invent the fountain pen.
In 1906 -- Chester F. Carlson, invented xerography, born.
In 1914 -- Gypsy Rose Lee (in Seattle, WA), stripper, born.
In 1920 -- Lana Turner (in Wallace, Idaho), actress, born.
In 1922 -- Radio arrives in the White House.
In 1925 -- Jack Lemmon, actor, born.
In 1931 -- James Dean, actor (Rebel Without a Cause), born.
In 1940 -- Nick Nolte, actor, born.
In 1945 -- Mia Farrow (in Los Angeles, CA), actress, born.
In 1968 -- Gary Coleman, actor, born.
In 1974 -- Skylab 4's astronauts land.
In 1984 -- Soyuz T-10 is launched.

9th

In 1670 -- Christian V became King of Denmark and Norway.
In 1904 -- Russian cruisers Variag and Korietz sunk off Korean coast by Japanese.
In 1914 -- Gypsy Rose Lee, stripper, born. It's also The Feast of St. Apollonia, patron saint of Dentists, invoked against Toothache

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10th

In 1763 -- Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War.
In 1775 -- Charles Lamb (in England), writer, born.
In 1870 -- YWCA is founded in New York City.
In 1893 -- Jimmy Durante, comedian, born.
In 1898 -- Bertolt Brecht, born.
In 1930 -- Robert Wagner, actor, born.
In 1940 -- Roberta Flack (in North Carolina), singer, born.
In 1942 -- Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo" goes gold.
In 1950 -- Mark Spitz, swimmer, born.
In 1955 -- Greg Norman, golfer, born.

11th

In 1847 -- Thomas Alva Edison (in New Jersey), inventor who lit up your life, born.
In 1854 -- Major streets lit by coal gas for first time.
In 1921 -- Eva Gabor (Budapest, Hungary), actress (Green Acres), born.
In 1929 -- Vatican City (world's Smallest Country) is made an enclave of Rome.
In 1936 -- Pumping begins to build Treasure Island, San Francisco.
In 1936 -- Burt Reynolds, actor, born.
In 1941 -- Sergio Mendes, artist, born.
In 1984 -- Tenth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 4 returns to Earth.

12th

In 1541 -- Santiago, Chile founded.
In 1802 -- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President (1861-1865), born.
In 1809 -- Charles Darwin, evolutionist, born.
In 1908 -- First New York to Paris auto race (via Alaska and Siberia) begins. George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel.
In 1915 -- Lorne Greene, actor (Bonanza, Battlestar Galactica), born.
In 1915 -- Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
In 1924 -- Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" premieres in Carnegie Hall.
In 1946 -- Maud Adams (in Sweden), born.
In 1953 -- Joanna Kerns, actress, born.

13th

In 1867 -- "Blue Danube" waltz premiers in Vienna.
in 1933 -- Emanuel Ungaro, fashion designer, born.
In 1934 -- George Segal, actor, banjo player, born.
In 1937 -- "Prince Valiant" comic strip appears; known for historical detail and fine detail drawing. .
In 1944 -- Stockard Channing (in New York), born.
In 1955 -- Israel acquires 4 of the 7 dead sea scrolls.

14th

In 1876 -- Alexander Graham Bell files an application for a patent for the telephone.
In 1882 -- John Barrymore, actor, born.
In 1894 -- Benjamin Kubelski (AKA Jack Benny), actor, comedian, born.
In 1913 -- James Pike, clergyman, born.
In 1913 -- Jimmy Hoffa, missing labor leader, born.
In 1918 -- USSR calendar conversion.
In 1929 -- St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, 7 gangsters killed by rivals disguised as cops (The Night Chicago Died).
In 1934 -- Florence Henderson (in Indiana), actress (Alice in The Brady Bunch), born.
In 1946 -- Gregory Hines, actor, dancer, born.
In 1961 -- Element 103, lawrencium, first produced in Berkeley, California lab.
In 1962 -- Mrs. Kennedy gives the TV audience a tour of the White House.
In 1972 -- John and Yoko guest-host The Mike Douglas Show for the entire week.

15th

In 1564 -- Galileo Galilei, astronomer, born.
In 1645 -- English standing army first founded.
In 1797 -- Henry Engelhard Steinway, piano maker, born.
In 1820 -- Susan B. Anthony, Woman's suffragette, born.
In 1882 -- John Barrymore, actor, born.
In 1903 -- First Teddy Bear introduced in America. Made by Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants.
In 1907 -- Cesar Romero, actor who played the Joker in the TV version of Batman, born.
In 1912 -- Yuan Shik-K'ai elected the first President of the Republic of China.
In 1927 -- Harvey Korman, actor, born.
In 1951 -- Jane Seymour [Joyce Frankenberg], Middlesex England, actress (Dr Quinn, East of Eden), born.
In 1955 -- Production announced-first pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds.

16th

In 1823 -- Li Hung Chang, Chinese statesman, born.
In 1883 -- Ladies Home Journal begins publication.
In 1884 -- Robert Flaherty, father of the documentary film, born.
In 1914 -- First airplane flight to Los Angeles from San Francisco.
In 1923 -- Howard Carter finds the Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
In 1923 -- First radio-telescope news messages transmitted from U.S. to England.
In 1937 -- Nylon patented by W. H. Carothers.
In 1945 -- US forces land on Corrigidor (complete conquest on March 3).
In 1946 -- First commercially designed helicopter tested at Bridgeport, CT.
In 1956 -- James Ingram. actor, born.
In 1959 -- Fidel Castro became Premier of Cuba.
In 1959 -- John McEnroe, tennis player, brat, born.
In 1961 -- Andy Taylor, guitarist with Duran Duran, born.
In 1961 -- First all solid propellant rocket put into orbit from Wallops Island, VA.
In 1964 -- Beatles second appearance on Ed Sullivan.

17th

In 1387 -- Heathen religions banned in Poland.
In 1673 -- Moliere, French Dramatist, died
In 1854 -- Frederick Krupp, Arms manufacturer, born
In 1857 -- Samuel S. McClure, organizer of the first news syndicate, born
In 1876 -- Sardines were first canned, in Eastport, Maine.
In 1878 -- First telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones.
In 1909 -- Geronimo, Apache Indian Chief, died
In 1944 -- Battle of Eniwetok Atoll (U.S. victory on Feb 22).
In 1958 -- St. Clare of Assisi declared patron saint of television.
In 1925 -- Hal Holbrook, actor, born.
In 1934 -- Alan Bates, actor, born.
In 1945 -- Pat Morrow (in Los Angeles), actor (Peyton Place), born.
In 1962 -- Lou Diamond Philips, actor, born.
In 1963 -- Michael Jordan, gravity-defying hoopster, born.

18th

In 1516 -- Queen Mary I, first reigning queen of Great Britain, born.
In 1745 -- Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, invented the electric battery, born.
In 1848 -- Louis Comfort Tiffany, glassmaker, born.
In 1861 -- Confederate President Jefferson Davis is inaugurated at Montgomery, AL.
In 1894 -- Andres Segovia, guitarist, born.
In 1920 -- Jack Palance, actor (Believe It......Or Not, City Slickers), born.
In 1922 -- Helen Gurly Brown in Portland Maine, publisher (Cosmopolitan), born.
In 1930 -- Planet Pluto discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh.
In 1930 -- A cow is flown (and milked in flight) for first time. Her milk was sealed in paper containers and dropped by parachute over St. Louis, MO.
In 1933 -- Yoko Ono (in Tokyo, Japan), singer, wife of John Lennon, born.
In 1933 -- Kim Novak (in Chicago, Illinois), actress, born.
In 1939 -- Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.
In 1950 -- Cybil Shepherd (in Memphis, TN), actress (Moonlighting, Sybil), born.
In 1953 -- Premier of first 3-D feature film, "Bwana Devil", at NY city.
In 1954 -- John Travolta, actor, born.
In 1957 -- Vanna White (in South Carolina), game show hostess (Wheel of Fortune), born.
In 1964 -- Matt Dillon, actor, born.
In 1965 -- Gambian National Day
In 1968 -- Molly Ringwald (in Los Angeles, CA), actress (Pretty in Pink), born.

19th

In 1473 -- Nicolaus Copernicus (in Poland), astronomer, born.
In 1878 -- Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph.
In 1911 -- Merle Oberon (in Tasmania), born.
In 1924 -- Lee Marvin, actor, born.
In 1940 -- Smokey Robinson, singer, born.
In 1945 -- Marines land on Iwo Jima.
In 1955 -- Margaux Hemingway (in Portland, Oregon), actress, daughter of Ernest, born.
In 1960 -- Prince Andrew, Second eldest son of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, born.
In 1962 -- Hana Mandlikova, tennis player, born.
In 1966 -- Justine Bateman (in Rye, NY), actress (Family Ties), born.
In 1977 -- President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino ("Tokyo Rose").

20th

In 1898 -- Enzo Ferrari, car designer and manufacturer, born.
In 1902 -- Ansel Adams, knows how to handle a camera, born.
In 1904 -- Alexei Kosygin, Soviet Premier, born.
In 1924 -- Gloria Vanderbilt, fashion designer (Don't my jeans look great!), born.
In 1924 -- Sydney Poitier, actor, born.
In 1925 -- Robert Altman, director (M*A*S*H), born.
In 1934 -- Bobby Unser, auto racer, born.
In 1937 -- First automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica, Ca
In 1962 -- John Glenn aboard Friendship 7, is first American to orbit the Earth.
In 1963 -- Charles Barkley, Star player for the Pheonix Suns and Houston Rockets basketball teams, born.
In 1972 -- President Nixon visits China.
In 1985 -- Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald Duck, died.

21st

In 1804 -- First self-propelled locomotive on rails demonstrated, in Wales.
In 1858 -- First electric burglar alarm is installed in Boston, Mass.
In 1878 -- First Telephone book is issued, in New Haven, Conn.
In 1916 -- WW I Battle of Verdun begins.
In 1931 -- Larry Hagman, actor, born.
In 1932 -- Camera exposure meter patented, W. N. Goodwin.
In 1933 -- Nina Simone (in Tyron, NC), born.
In 1943 -- David Geffen, record company president, born.
In 1946 -- Tyne Daly (in Madison, WI), actress (Cagney and Lacey), born.
In 1947 -- First instant develop camera demonstrated in NY City by E. H. Land.
In 1965 -- Malcolm X assassinated.
In 1972 -- Richard Nixon first American president to visit China.
In 1981 -- Charles Rocket clearly says a four-letter word on Saturday Night Live.

22nd

In 1630 -- Popcorn is introduced by an Indian named Quadequina to the English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.
In 1732 -- George Washington, father figure for U.S., President (1789-1796), born.
In 1749 -- Johann Nikolaus Forkel, musicologist and first biographer of Bach, born.
In 1784 -- Empress of China sets sail on first New York to China route.
In 1810 -- Frederic Chopin, composer, born.
In 1857 -- Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, born.
In 1892 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet, born.
In 1900 -- Hawaii becomes a U.S. territory.
In 1950 -- Julius "Magic" Erving, basketball player, born.
In 1975 -- Drew Barrymore, actress, member of the Barrymore clan, born.
In 1980 -- USA beats the Russians in Olympic Hockey (4-3).

23rd

In 1584 -- Gutenberg Day, first printing press.
In 1685 -- George Frideric Handel, Baroque composer in Germany, born.
In 1836 -- Alamo is besieged by Santa Anna, entire garrison eventually killed.
In 1905 -- Rotary Club is founded by four men in Chicago.
In 1935 -- First rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake, NY.
In 1940 -- Peter Fonda, actor, son of Henry, born.
In 1945 -- US Marines raise flag on Iwo Jima, famous photo and statue.
In 1955 -- Howard Jones, musician, born.

24th

In 1786 -- Wilhelm Karl Grimm, story teller, born.
In 1885 -- Admiral Chester Nimitz, in charge of Pacific Fleet in WWII, born.
In 1949 -- First rocket to reach outer space launched at White Sands, NM.
In 1955 -- Steven Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, born.
In 1964 -- Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship.
In 1980 -- USA beats Finland and wins the Olympic Gold Medal (4-2).
In 1986 -- Voyager 2, first Uranus flyby.
In 1989 -- Funeral for Japan's Emperor Hirohito draws all major world leaders. Cost - 80 billion dollars.
In 1989 -- United Airlines 747 jet rips open in flight from Honolulu to New Zealand, 9 passengers sucked out of plane and many injured.

25th

In 1838 -- A London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward and 20 miles forward in 8 hours.
In 1841 -- Renoir, painter, born.
In 1873 -- Enrico Caruso (in Italy), singer, born.
In 1933 -- First aircraft carrier "Ranger" launched.
In 1943 -- George Harrison, singer and guitar player of Beatles fame, born.
In 1972 -- Paul McCartney releases "Give Ireland back to the Irish" single.
In 1977 -- Soyuz 24 returns to Earth.
In 1979 -- Soyuz 32 is launched.

26th

In 1802 -- Victor Hugo, French author, born.
In 1815 -- Napoleon escapes from Elba to begin second conquest of France.
In 1846 -- William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (near Davenport, Iowa), frontiersman, born.
In 1848 -- Second French Republic was proclaimed.
In 1852 -- John Harvey Kellogg, English Corn Flake inventor.
In 1870 -- First New York City subway line was opened to the public.
In 1881 -- S.S. Ceylon begins first round-the-world cruise from Liverpool.
In 1916 -- Jackie Gleason, Comedian, born.
In 1919 -- U.S. Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
In 1920 -- Tony Randall, actor (The Odd Couple), born.
In 1928 -- Fats Domino, singer, born.
In 1932 -- Johnny Cash, singer, The Man in Black, born.
In 1933 -- Golden Gate Bridge ground-breaking ceremony held at Crissy Field.
In 1952 -- PM Winston Churchill announced that Britain had its own atomic bomb.
In 1954 -- First typesetting machine (photo engraving) used at Quincy, Mass.
In 1955 -- First aviator to bail out at supersonic speed - G. F. Smith.
In 1969 -- Levi Eshkol dies, Golda Meir becomes premier of Israel.
In 1970 -- Beatles release "Beatles Again" a.k.a. "Hey Jude" album.
In 1986 -- Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos flees in defeat, takes up residence in Hawaii with wife Imelda.
In 1993 -- World Trade Center bombing. Islamic terrorists detonate a bomb in the World Trade Centre. 168 people killed in the first terrorist attack on United States soil.
In 1995 -- Barings Bank disaster. Nick Leeson loses billions of Pounds Sterling in offshore investments.

27th

In 1583 -- Constantine
In 1807 -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (in Portland, Maine), poet, born.
In 1844 -- Dominican Republic gains it's independence.
In 1883 -- Oscar Hammerstein patents first practical cigar-rolling machine.
In 1902 -- John Steinbeck, writer, born.
In 1922 -- U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment (woman's right to vote).
In 1930 -- Joanne Woodward (in Thomasville, GA), actress, wife of Paul Newman, born.
In 1932 -- Elizabeth Taylor (in London, England), actress, had many husbands, born.
In 1933 -- Reichstag building in Berlin was set afire, Nazis blame Communists.
In 1949 -- Chaim Weizmann becomes the first Israeli president.
In 1972 -- President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communiqu�.
In 1973 -- American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota.

28th

In 1854 -- American Republican Party formed at Ripon, Wisconsin.
In 1883 -- First vaudeville theater opens.
In 1915 -- Zero Mostel, actor (Fiddler on the Roof), born.
In 1926 -- Svetlana Stalina, daughter of Josef Stalin, born.
In 1930 -- Gavin MacLeod, actor (Love Boat, Mary Tyler Moore Show), born.
In 1947 -- Stephane Beacham, actress, born.
In 1948 -- Bernadette Peters (in Queens, New York), actress, Tony winner, born.
In 1956 -- Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.
In 1983 -- The final episode of TV show "M*A*S*H."

29th

In 1288 -- It was made legal in Scotland for women to propose to men.
In 1468 -- Pope Paul III, born.
In 1584 -- Pope Hilarius, born.
In 1892 -- Britian and US signed treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea.
In 1904 -- Jimmy Dorsey, bandleader, born.
In 1916 -- Howard Nemerov, poet, born.
In 1924 -- Al Rosen, baseball player and executive, born.
In 1944 -- English and Indian troops drove Japanese forces during W.W.II

Note: This date only occurs every four years!

This page last revised: May 2005

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