E02011790 the US Supreme Court convenes for the first time in New York City.
E02011861 Texas secedes from the Union.
E02011867 bricklayers start working 8-hour days.
E02011896 Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme" premieres in Turin, Italy.
E02011898 the Travelers Insurance Co. issues the first auto insurance policy, to Dr. Truman J. Martin of Buffalo, NY, for $11.05.
E02011920 the first armored car is introduced.
E02011982 "Late Night with David Letterman" premieres on NBC-TV.
E02021536 Buenos Aires, Argentina, is founded.
E02021653 New Amsterdam, (New York City), is incorporated by the Dutch.
E02021665 the English rename New Amsterdam to New York.
E02021848 Mexico sells the US Texas, California, New Mexico & Arizona, while signing a treaty to end the Mexican War.
E02021876 the National Baseball League forms with 8 teams.
E02021893 the first movie close-up is filmed at the Edison studio - Fred Ott sneezing.
E02021962 8 of the 9 planets align for the first time in 400 years.
E02021970 Grand Funk Railroad releases "Heartbreaker".
E02031690 the first paper money in America is issued by Massachusetts.
E02031783 Spain recognizes US independence.
E02031866 the James Gang robs their first bank, Clay County Savings and Loan Association Bank in Liberty, MO.
E02031913 the 16th Amendment is ratified, providing for a federal income tax.
E02031945 at the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agree that Russia will enter WWII against Japan.
E02031959 the "day the music died": Buddy Holly, age 22, Ritchie Valens, age 17, and "The Big Bopper", (nee J.P. Richardson), die in an airplane crash in Iowa.
E02031991 First Class postage goes from 25 to 29 cents.
E02031992 ABC-TV broadcasts the last episode of "MacGyver".
E02041789 George Washington is elected as the first President.
E02041932 FDR opens the first Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, NY.
E02041974 Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
E02051881 Phoenix, AZ. is incorporated.
E02051887 Guiseppe Verdi's opera "Othello" premieres at La Scala.
E02051940 the Glenn Miller Orchestra records "Tuxedo Junction".
E02051967 "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" premieres on CBS-TV.
E02051972 Neil Young releases "Heart of Gold".
E02061840 England colonizes New Zealand.
E02061900 the Spanish/American War ends.
E02061933 the 20th Amendment is ratified, the `Lame Duck' amendment.
E02061933 the USS Ramapo encounters the largest ocean wave ever recorded, 122 feet.
E02061959 the first Titan intercontinental ballistic missle is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy.
E02061970 John Lennon releases "Instant Karma".
E02061985 in Hunt v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., the jury finds for Liberty Lobby, saying the CIA killed JFK and that E. Howard Hunt was involved.
E02061788 Massachusetts becomes the 6th state.
E02061693 the College of William and Mary is chartered in Williamsburg, VA.
E02071882 John L. Sullivan becomes the last bare knuckle champion by knocking out Paddy Ryan in Mississippi City, MS.
E02071948 Dwight Eisenhower resigns as Army chief of staff and is succeeded by Omar Bradley.
E02071964 the Beatles begin their first US tour, landing via Pan Am in New York City.
E02071971 women in Switzerland earn the right to vote.
E02081587 Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded.
E02081861 the Confederate States of America is founded.
E02081883 Louis Waterman begins experiments that invent the fountain pen.
E02081910 the Boy Scouts of America is incorporated.
E02081922 the first radio arrives in the White House.
E02081960 the "Payola" hearings begin in Washington, DC.
E02081969 the rock group Blind Faith is formed.
E02091861 the Confederate States of America elect Jefferson Davis president and Alexander Stephens vice president.
E02091877 the US Weather Bureau is founded.
E02091943 the Japanese evacuate Guadalcanal.
E02091964 an estimated 73 million TV viewers watch the Beatles make their first live American TV appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show".
E02101840 Britain's Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert.
E02101846 the Mormons begin their exodus west from Illinois.
E02101863 P.T. Barnum stages the wedding of General Tom Thumb and Mercy Lavinia Warren - both dwarfs - in New York City.
E02101933 the first singing telegram is made in New York City.
E02101949 Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" premieres on Broadway.
E02101962 the US exchanges a captured Soviet spy for Francis Gary Powers.
E02101967 the 25th Amendment is ratified, establishing presidential disability and succession.
E02101990 James (Buster) Douglas, in one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history, KO's Mike Tyson for the title. He lost the title 256 days later.
E02111752 the first American hospital opens in Philadelphia.
E02111812 the Massachusetts Legislature, at the behest of Gov. Elbridge Gerry, passes a redistricting law favoring Gerry's party, an action that resulted in the term "gerrymandering."
E02111929 Vatican City becomes an enclave of Rome.
E02111979 followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini overthrow the Shah of Iran.
E02121294 Kublai Khan, ruler of the world from the Danube to the East China Sea, dies at age 80.
E02121909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
E02121915 the cornerstone is laid for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
E02121924 "Rhapsody In Blue" premieres at Carnegie Hall.
E02131542 Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, is executed.
E02131635 Boston Public Latin School, the oldest US public school, is founded.
E02131867 the "Blue Danube" waltz premieres in Vienna.
E02131937 the "Prince Valiant" comic strip premieres.
E02131961 Frank Sinatra forms Reprise Records.
E02141779 Captain James Cook, explorer, is killed in Hawaii.
E02141848 President James Polk becomes the first chief executive to be photographed while in office.
E02141859 Oregon becomes the 33rd state.
E02141876 Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both apply seperately for a patent on the telephone.
E02141912 Arizona becomes the 48th state.
E02141985 American Jeremy Levis escapes from Lebanon after 11 months of captivity.
E02141989 Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini condemn's Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" and calls for the writers death.
E02151673 Moliere (nee Jean-Baptiste Pocquelin), dies at age 51.
E02151842 the first adhesive postage stamps are introduced in New York City.
E02151898 260 men are killed when the USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor.
E02151933 FDR escapes an assassination attempt in Miami, however, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak is killed.
E02151942 the Japanese capture Singapore.
E02151965 Canada's new flag, with it's maple leaf design, is unfurled for the first time.
E02151968 Little Walter, (nee Marion Walter Jacobs), musician, dies.
E02161868 the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) is formed in New York City.
E02161923 Howard Carter discovers King Tut's tomb.
E02161945 US forces land on Corregidor.
E02161959 Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
E02161865 Columbia, SC burns as the Union forces move in.
E02171876 sardines are first canned, in Eastport, ME.
E02171904 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" premieres at La Scala.
E02171944 the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll, US victory on Feb. 22.
E02171947 the Voice of America begins broadcasting to the USSR.
E02171970 "crazed hippies" attack and kill the family of Jeffrey MacDonald in Ft. Bragg, NC. MacDonald is later convicted of the crimes.
E02171978 the 3,000,000th point is scored in the NBA.
E02181858 the Virgin Mary appears to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France.
E02181861 Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America.
E02181885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckelberry Finn" is first published.
E02181930 Clyde W. Tombaugh discovers the planet Pluto.
E02181968 guitarist David Gilmour joins Pink Floyd.
E02181970 the Chicago Seven are acquitted of conspiracy to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
E02181974 the first KISS album, "KISS" is released.
E02181983 the 4,000,000th point is scored in the NBA by Moses Malone of Philadelphia.
E02191807 Aaron Burr is arrested for treason (later to be acquitted).
E02191846 the Texas state government is formally installed in Austin.
E02191878 Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.
E02191881 Kansas becomes the first state to prohibit alcoholic beverages.
E02191942 FDR signs Executive Order #9066 allowing for the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans.
E02191945 the Marines land on Iwo Jima.
E02191977 President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino ("Tokyo Rose").
E02191981 First Class postage goes fron 15 to 18 cents.
E02201792 the US Post Office is created.
E02201809 the Supreme Court rules that the power of the federal government is greater than individual states.
E02201839 Congress prohibits dueling in Washington, DC.
E02201938 Anthony Eden resigns as British Foreign Secretary in a dispute with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
E02201962 John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.
E02201971 the National Emergency Warning Center erroneously orders radio and TV stations to go off the air.
E02211804 the first self-propelled locomotive on rails is demonstrated in Wales, England.
E02211846 the first female telegrapher opens an office in Lowell, MA.
E02211866 Lucy Hobbs becomes the first woman to graduate from a dental school.
E02211878 the first telephone book is issued in New Haven, CT.
E02211885 the Washington Monument is dedicated in Washington, DC.
E02211916 the longest and bloodiest battle of World War I - the Battle of Verdun - begins in France.
E02211918 the last Carolina Parakeet dies at the Cincinnati Zoo.
E02211925 "The New Yorker" premieres.
E02211947 Edwin Land demonstrates his Polaroid Land camera.
E02211972 President Nixon begins his historic visit to China.
E02221630 Indians introduce the Pilgrims to popcorn.
E02221879 the first 5 & 10 cent store is opened by F.W. Woolworth in Utica, NY
E02221900 Hawaii becomes a US Territory.
E02221935 it is now illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.
E02221980 the US hockey team beats the USSR 4-3 to advance to the Gold Medal game ("Do you believe in miracles?!").
E02231836 the seige of the Alamo begins.
E02231846 John Quincy Adams, the 6th president, dies at age 80.
E02231861 Abraham Lincoln secretly arrives in Washington to take office; an assassination plot being foiled in Baltimore.
E02231905 the Rotary Club is founded.
E02231942 a Japanese sub fires on Ellwood City, CA.
E02231945 US Marines raise the flag on Iwo Jima.
E02231954 the first children are inoculated for polio in Pittsburgh.
E02231955 ABC-TV broadcasts its third, and last, episode of "Davy Crockett".
E02231991 at 7:00pm CT, (4:00am in Baghdad), US and allied forces invade Kuwait and Iraq after 38 days of round-the-clock bombing.
E02241582 Pope Gregory XIII issues a papal bull, outlining his calendar reforms, known as the Gregorian Calendar.
E02241821 Mexico declares its independence from Spain.
E02241868 the US House of Representatives impeaches President Andrew Johnson.
E02241942 the Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German).
E02241945 Manila is liberated from the Japanese.
E02241975 Led Zeppelin releases "Physical Graffiti".
E02251570 Pope Pius V excommunicates England's Queen Elizabeth I.
E02251793 the first presidential Cabinet meeting is held.
E02251836 Samuel Colt patents his revolver.
E02251870 Hiram Revels becomes the first black US senator (replacing Jefferson Davis who had resigned.)
E02251913 the 16th Amendment is ratified, authorizing an income tax.
E02251919 Oregon is the first state to tax gasoline (1 cent per gallon).
E02251950 "Your Show of Shows" premieres on NBC-TV.
E02251964 Muhammed Ali (then Cassius Clay) defeats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title.
E02251967 the Beatles release "Strawberry Fields Forever" b/w "Penny Lane".
E02251974 Grand Funk Railroad releases "The Loco-Motion".
E02261815 Napoleon escapes from Elba to start his second conquest of France.
E02261870 New York City's first subway opens.
E02261919 Congress establishes Grand Canyon National Park.
E02261951 the 22nd Amendment is ratified, limiting the President to two terms.
E02271700 the Pacific island of New Britain is discovered.
E02271922 the Supreme Court upholds the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote.
E02271933 the Reichstag building in Berlin is set afire and the Nazis blame the Communists in order to suspend civil liberties.
E02281854 the Republican Party is formed in Ripon, WI.
E02281861 the Colorado Territory is organized.
E02281883 the first vaudeville theatre opens.
E02281940 the first televised college basketball games are broadcast by New York City station W2XBS.
E02281970 Norman Greenbaum releases "Spirit in the Sky".
E02281983 an estimated 125 million people, the largest audience in TV history, watch the last episode of "M*A*S*H" on CBS-TV.
E02281986 Sweden's Prime Minister Olaf Palme is assassinated, the first Swedish leader to be assassinated since King Gustav III in 1792.
E02291892 Britian and the US sign a treaty on seal hunting in the Bering Sea.
;
; Disasters/Accidents/Deaths
;
D02011967 Severe brush fires in Tasmania destroy $11 million of property, taking 60 lives. (Australia)
D02011970 Stalled commuter train rammed by a high-speed express at Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 139, injuring 179.
D02021969 Boris Karloff, actor, dies at age 81.
D02021991 Pete Axthelm, sports writer/commentator, dies at age 47.
D02021992 Bert Parks, TV personality, dies at age 77.
D02031924 Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President, dies at age 69.
D02031959 American Airlines Electra crashes in New York's East River, killing 65.
D02031991 Nancy Kulp, actress, dies at age 69.
D02041783 Worst quake over 8 yr. period kills some 50,000. (Calabria, Italy)
D02041966 All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes in bay off Haneda Airport killing 133 tourists. (Japan)
D02041971 Government exhibit under construction collapses on 200 workers, killing more than 65. (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
D02041975 22,000 people are killed by an earthquake in Guatemala and Honduras.
D02041983 Karen Carpenter, singer, dies at age 32.
D02041986 Gino Hernandez (nee Charles Wolfe), wrestler, dies at age 28.
D02051991 Dean Jagger, actor, dies at age 87.
D02061951 'Broker Special' train crashed through temporary wooden overpass at Woodbridge, New Jersey, killing 84.
D02061991 Danny Thomas, entertainer, dies at age 79.
D02071812 Last of Midwest quakes (see 12/16) strikes New Madrid, Missouri. Changing course of Mississippi River in many places.
D02071904 80-block section of Baltimore, Maryland burns. $150 million damage
D02071962 Gas explosion in the Luisanthal coal mine at Voelklingen, Germany kills 298.
D02081923 Coal mine explosion at Dawson, New Mexico kills 120.
D02081965 Eastern Airlines DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach, New Jersey killing 84.
D02081990 Del Shannon, singer, dies at age 50.
D02091971 Quake in the San Fernando Valley kills 26 and causes over half $billion damage.D02101992 Alex Haley, author, dies at age 70.
D02091981 Bill Haley, musician, dies at age 56.
D02091991 James Cleveland, singer, dies at age 59.
D02101964 Australian destroyer 'Voyager' sunk in collision with aircraft carrier 'Melbourne' killing 82 of it's crew.
D02101970 Dry powder avalanche moving at 120 mph smashes into youth hostel killing 40 Belgian, French, & German youths. (Val d'Isere, France)
D02101973 World's largest storage tank explodes during repair, crushing 40 of 43 inside. Staten Island, New York.
D02121976 Sal Mineo, actor, is killed at age 37.
D02131883 Richard Wagner, composer, dies at age 69.
D02141929 the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, when seven gangsters are killed.
D02151961 Sabena Airlines 707 crashes near Brussels killing 73, including 18 members of the U.S. figure-skating team.
D02151981 Michael Bloomfield, musician, dies at age 39.
D02151992 William Schumann, composer, dies at age 81.
D02171926 75 buried in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah avalanche. 40 die
D02171950 Head-on collision of 2 commuter trains outside New York City killed 31 people.
D02171982 Thelonious Monk, musician, dies at age 64.
D02171982 Lee Strasberg, acting coach, dies at age 80.
D02171985 First Class postage goes from 20 cents to 22 cents.
D02171991 Travis (the Roadrunner) Williams, football player, dies at age 45.
D02181546 Martin Luther, religious leader, dies at age 62.
D02181564 Michelangelo, artist, dies at age 89.
D02181967 J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientist, dies at age 62.
D02181991 Eugene Fodor, travel writer, dies at age 85.
D02191980 Bon Scott, singer, dies.
D02191983 Willie Mak and Benjamin Ng kill 13 people in a robbery at a gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown section.
D02201790 Joseph II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, dies.
D02201895 Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, dies.
D02201943 New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch. (Mexico)
D02201947 Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 4 square blocks of Los Angeles.
D02201955 Oswald Avery, scientist, dies at age 77.
D02201992 Dick York, actor, dies at age 63.
D02211965 Malcolm X, philosopher, is assassinated in New York at age 39.
D02211971 Series of tornadoes cuts through Miss. & La. killing 117.
D02211991 Dame Margot Fonteyn, dancer, dies at age 71.
D02221512 Amerigo Vespucci, explorer, dies at age 58.
D02231852 'H.M.S. Birkenhead' sinks off South Africa killing 420 troops.
D02221987 Andy Warhol, artist, dies at age 58.
D02241970 29 Swiss Army officers killed when stone barracks is swept 200 feet off foundations by avalanche. (Reckingen, Switzerland)
D02241983 Tennessee Williams, playwright, dies at age 71.
D02241990 Johnny Ray, singer, dies at age 63.
D02241991 George Gobel, comedian, dies at age 71.
D02241991 Webb Pierce, singer, dies at age 65.
D02251983 "Tennessee" Williams, playwright, dies at age 81.
D02251991 John Daly, TV personality, dies at age 77.
D02261972 Slag heap dam collapses above Buffalo Creek, W. Va. killing 125 and leaving 4,000 homeless.
D02281967 Henry Luce, magazine publisher, dies at age 68.
D02281968 Frankie Lymon, singer, dies at age 25.
D02291960 1/3 of Agadir, Morocco population (12,000) killed within 15 seconds after a quake strikes this city.
D02291992 Earl Scheib, car painter, dies at age 85.
;
; Birthdays
;
B02011859 Victor Herbert, composer.
B02011895 John Ford, film director.
B02011901 Clark Gable, actor.
B02011904 S.J. Perelman, humorist.
B02011926 Stuart Whitman, actor.
B02011932 John Hart, TV newsman.
B02011937 Don Everly, singer.
B02011937 Garrett Morris, comedian.
B02011938 Sherman Hemsley, actor.
B02011942 Terry Jones, comedian.
B02011942 Bibi Besch, groupie.
B02011952 Rick James, musician.
B02011954 Billy Mumy, actor.
B02011962 Tatu (nee Antonio Carlos Pecorari), soccer player.
B02011965 Princess Stephanie, Monaco royal.
B02011968 Lisa Marie Presley, actress.
B02021754 Talleyrand, French politician.
B02021875 Fritz Kreisler, violinist.
B02021882 James Joyce, author.
B02021901 Jascha Heifetz, violinist.
B02021906 Gale Gordon, actor.
B02021923 Liz Smith, gossip columnist.
B02021937 Stan Getz, musician.
B02021932 Robert Mandan, actor.
B02021937 Tom Smothers, comedian.
B02021942 Bo Hopkins, actor.
B02021942 Graham Nash, singer.
B02021947 Stephanie Beacham, actress.
B02021947 Farrah Fawcett-Majors, model/actress.
B02021948 Jessica Savich, TV newswoman.
B02021953 Christie Brinkley, model/actress.
B02021953 Simon MacCorkindale, actor.
B02031809 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, composer.
B02031811 Horace Greeley, newspaper editor.
B02031821 Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman to get MD from a US school.
B02031874 Gertrude Stein, author.
B02031894 Norman Rockwell, artist.
B02031907 James A. Michener, author.
B02031912 Erich Leinsdorf, conductor.
B02031918 Joey Bishop, comedian.
B02031925 John Fiedler, actor.
B02031926 Shelley Berman, comedian.
B02031940 Fran Tarkenton, football player/sportscaster.
B02031943 Blythe Danner, actress.
B02031945 Bob Griese, football player.
B02031947 Dave Davies, musician.
B02031950 Morgan Fairchild, actress.
B02041902 Charles A. Lindburgh, aviator.
B02041912 Byron Nelson, golfer.
B02041918 Ida Lupino, actress.
B02041921 Betty Friedan, feminist.
B02041923 Conrad Bain, actor.
B02041936 Gary Conway, actor.
B02041940 John Shuck, actor.
B02041945 David Brenner, comedian.
B02041947 Dan Quayle, Vice President (1989- )
B02041948 Alice Cooper, (nee Vincent Furnier), singer.
B02041949 Michael Beck, actor.
B02041952 Lisa Eichorn, actress.
B02041959 Lawrence Taylor, football player.
B02041962 Clint Black, singer/songwriter.
B02051840 John Boyd Dunlop, developed the pneumatic tire.
