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February 19 |
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February is:
Today is:
Solar System Day - A day set aside to honor the memory of Nicolaus Copernicus. Born in 1473, this Polish astronomer is known as the father of modern astronomy.
Temporary Insanity Day - In 1859, Dan Sickles was acquitted of murdering his wife's lover on the grounds of temporary insanity. His case was the first time that this defense was used successfully in the U.
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1473: Astronomer and priest Nicolaus
Copernicus in Torun, Poland. He revolutionized scientific thought with his
"Copernican theory," this theory placed the sun at the center of our planetary
system. |
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1552: Austrian statesman, bishop of Vienna
and later a cardinal, Melchior Klesl. He tried to promote religious toleration during the
Counter-Reformation in Austria. |
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1626: Italian physician and poet Francesco
Redi. He demonstrated that the presence of maggots in putrefying meat does not result from
spontaneous generation but from eggs laid on the meat by flies. |
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1683: King Philip V, King of Spain |
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1743: Luigi Boccherini was born in Lucca,
west of Florence in what then was called simply Tuscany. Boccherini's music became
sufficiently well-known to come to the attention of Haydn and Mozart. |
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1817: William III, King of the Netherlands |
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1892: Politician Scott Lucas |
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1893: Actor Sir Cedrick Hardwicke (The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stanley and Livingstone, Richard III, The Ten Commandments) |
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19??: David Snow (Clay House) |
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1911: British actress Merle Oberon (A Song
to Remember, Wuthering Heights, Stage Door Canteen, Deep in My Heart, Hotel, The Oscar) |
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1912: Songwriter and bandleader Stan Kenton
(Artistry In Rhythm; How High the Moon, September Song, Laura) |
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1916: Hall-of-Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro. |
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1917: Novelist Carson McCullers (The Heart
is a Lonely Hunter) |
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1924: Actor Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou, The
Caine Mutiny, The Dirty Dozen, Delta Force, Ship of Fools) |
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1930: Director John Frankenheimer (Days of
Wine and Roses, Birdman of Alcatraz, The French Connection, The Manchurian Candidate) |
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1936: Singer Bob Engemann (Group: The
Lettermen) |
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1940: Singer William "Smokey"
Robinson |
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1940: Actress Carlin Glynn |
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1943: Singer (Lugee Sacco) Lou Christie
(Lightnin' Strikes, Two Faces Have I, The Gypsy Cried, Rhapsody In the Rain, I'm Gonna
Make You Mine) |
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1945: Actor Michael Nader. |
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1948: Rock musician Tony Iommi (Black
Sabbath) |
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1949: Acto Bruce Fairbairn (The Vampire
Hookers, Cyclone, Nightstick) r |
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1950: Rock musician (Scorpions) Francis
Buchholz |
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1955: Actor Jeff Daniels. |
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1955: Actress Margeaux Hemingway |
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1957: Talk show host Lorianne Crook. |
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1960: Britain's Prince Andrew |
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1960: Indy 500 driver John Paul Jr. |
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1962: Tennis Hall-of-Famer Hana Mandlikova. |
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1963: Singer Seal. |
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1966: Actress Justine Bateman. |
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1967: Actor Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic")
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0439: Death of St. Mesrop |
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0607: Election of Pope
Boniface III |
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1377: Wycliffe called to trial
before the Bishop of London |
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1408: In England, the
Northumberland Rebellion ended when Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, was defeated by
Henry IV at the Battle of Bramham Moor. |
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1479: Antonello da Messina,
Italian painter, dies |
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1583: Joseph Sanalbo, a
convert to Judaism, burned at the stake in Rome |
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1594: Coronation of Sigsimund
III, King of Poland, as King of Sweden |
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1600: Burning of Giordano
Bruno, philosopher. |
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1602: Death of Duke of
Mercoeur |
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1611: Arrest of Fr. Louis
Gaufridi for witchcraft |
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1800: Napoleon Bonaparte
proclaims himself First Consul of the newly established French dictatorship. |
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1803: Congress voted to accept
Ohio's borders and constitution. (However, Congress did not get around to formally
ratifying Ohio statehood until -- believe it or not -- 1953.) |
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1807: Former Vice President
Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. (He was subsequently tried for treason and acquitted.)
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1846: The Texas state
government was formally installed in Austin. |
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1856: The tintype camera was
patented by Professor Hamilton L. Smith of Gambier, Ohio. |
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1859: Dan Sickles was
acquitted of murdering his wife's lover on grounds of temporary insanity. His case was the
first time this defense was used successfully in the United States. |
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1861: Russian Tsar Alexander
II abolishes serfdom. |
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1864: The Knights of Pythias
was founded in Washington, D.C. A dozen members formed what became Lodge No. 1. |
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1878: Thomas Edison patented
the first gramophone. He secured patent No. 200,521. |
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1881: Kansas became the first
state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. |
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1902: Smallpox vaccination
becomes obligatory in France. |
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1903: The Austria-Hungary
government decrees a mandatory two year military service. |
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1909: Theodore Roosevelt calls
for a world conference on conservation. |
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1913: The first
"prize" was placed in a Cracker Jack box. |
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1917: American troops are
recalled from the Mexican border. |
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1918: A decree was issued by
the Soviet Central Executive Committee abolishing all private ownership of land, water and
natural resources in Russia. |
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1921: The U.S. Red Cross
reports that approximately 20,000 children die yearly in auto accidents. |
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1922: Ed Wynn became the first
big-name vaudeville talent to sign on as a radio talent. Previously, top talent had not
considered radio a respectable medium. |
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1923: Jean Sibelius's Sixth
Symphony premiered. This symphony doesn't have the cold grandeur of other Sibelius works.
But what it does have, in the first movement, is a fascinating by-play between the key of
C Major and the Dorian mode, which is equivalent to a white key scale on D. |
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1925: President Coolidge
proposes the phasing out of inheritance tax. |
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1926: Dr. Lane of Princeton
estimates the earths age at one billion years. |
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1934: George Gershwin once had
his own radio show. It premiered on this date sponsored by Feen-a-mint, a laxative. |
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1942: President Roosevelt
signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern
Japanese-Americans. |
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1942: During World War Two,
about 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin. |
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1942: President Franklin D.
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving the U.S. military the power to relocate and
intern "any and all persons." The order was used to detain some 110,000
Japanese-Americans, most of them U.S.-born citizens. |
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1942: The New York Yankees
announced that they would admit 5,000 uniformed servicemen free to each of their home ball
games during the coming season. |
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1945: 30,000 U.S. Marines
landed on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima in the Western Pacific where they
encountered ferocious resistance from Japanese forces. The Americans took control after a
month-long battle. |
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1949: The first Bollingen
Prize for poetry was awarded to Ezra Pound for his collection, The Pisan Cantos. This
award was controversial because Pound had been charged with treason after making
pro-Fascist broadcasts in Italy. |
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1953: The State of Georgia
approved the nation's first literature censorship board. Newspapers were excluded from the
new legislation. |
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1959: An agreement was signed
by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence. |
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1963: The Soviet Union
informed President Kennedy it would withdraw "several thousand" of an estimated
17-thousand Soviet troops in Cuba. |
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1965: Fourteen Vietnam War
protesters are arrested for blocking U.N. doors in New York. |
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1966: Robert F. Kennedy
suggests the U.S. offer the Vietcong a role in governing South Vietnam. |
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1968: The teachers in state of
Florida went on strike in the first statewide teacher's strike in the United States. |
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1976: Iceland broke off
diplomatic relations with Britain after the two countries failed to agree over fishing
rights in disputed waters. The dispute became known as the "Cod War." |
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1976: Britain slashes welfare
spending. |
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1977: President Ford pardons
Iva Toguri D'Aquino ("Tokyo Rose"). |
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1981: George Harrison was
ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" between his
song "My Sweet Lord" and the Chiffons early 1960's hit, "He's So
Fine." |
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1981: The U.S. State
Department calls El Salvador a "textbook case" of a Communist plot. |
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1981: George Harrison was
ordered to pay ABKCO Music the sum of $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism"
between his song, "My Sweet Lord" and the Chiffons early 1960s hit, "He's
So Fine". |
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1982: Receivers were appointed
in Northern Ireland to manage the affairs of the De Lorean car company. |
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1983: 13 people were found
shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown district in what became known as
the "Wah Mee Massacre." (Two Chinese immigrants were later convicted of the
killings.) |
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1984: The XIV Winter Olympic
Games ended at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union led all countries with 25 medals,
the United States captured nine medals to tie for fifth place. |
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1985: About 150 people were
killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed into a mountain while approaching the airport at
Bilbao, Spain. |
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1985: Cherry Coke was
introduced by the Coca-Cola Company. |
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1985: Mickey Mouse was
welcomed to China as part of the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. |
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1985: William Schroeder became
the first artificial heart patient to leave the confines of the hospital (where the
historic operation was performed). He spent 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in
Louisville, Kentucky. |
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1986: The Senate endorsed the
United Nations convention against genocide, 37 years after President Truman first sought
approval of the accord. |
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1986: The Senate also passed a
resolution declaring the Philippine presidential election had been marked by
"widespread fraud." |
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1986: Former U.S. Senator
James O. Eastland of Mississippi died at age 81. |
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1987: Taking Democratic
leaders and some of his closest aides by surprise, New York Governor Mario Cuomo announced
during a radio call-in program that he would not run for president in 1988. |
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1987: A controversial,
anti-smoking ad aired for the first time on television. It featured actor Yul Brynner in a
public service announcement that was recorded shortly before he died of lung cancer. |
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1988: A group calling itself
the "Organization of the Oppressed on Earth" claimed responsibility for the
kidnapping in Lebanon of US Marine Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins. (Higgins was
later slain by his captors.) |
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1989: Iran's Ayatollah
Khomeini rejected the apology of "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie,
exhorting Muslims to "send him to hell" for committing-blasphemy. |
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1990: Defense Secretary Dick
Cheney, snubbed by Philippine President Corazon Aquino, met in Manila with Defense
Minister Fidel Ramos to discuss the future of U.S. military bases in the country. |
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1991: President Bush told
reporters a Soviet proposal to end the Persian Gulf War fell "well short of what
would be required." |
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1991: Russian federation
President Boris Yeltsin delivered an unprecedented public appeal for Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev to resign. |
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1992: Former Irish Republican
Army fighter Joseph Doherty was deported from the United States to a jail in Belfast,
Northern Ireland, following a 10-year battle for political asylum. |
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1993: President Clinton's
economic plan won praise from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The president,
visiting Hyde Park, New York, suggested the US might have to consider a national sales tax
"not too long in the future," then said he'd meant in ten years or so. |
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1994: With Bosnian Serbs
facing a NATO deadline to withdraw heavy weapons encircling Sarajevo or face air strikes,
President Clinton delivered an address from the Oval Office reaffirming the ultimatum. |
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1994: American speedskater
Bonnie Blair won the fourth Olympic gold medal of her career as she won the 500-meter race
in Lillehammer, Norway. |
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1995: A day after being named
the new chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams outlined her plans for revitalizing
the civil rights organization, saying she intended to take the group back to its grass
roots. |
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1996: Republican presidential
hopefuls argued taxes, trade and negative ads in a final burst of contentious campaigning
on the eve of New Hampshire's leadoff primary, with Bob Dole the principal target. |
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1996: Baseball showman Charlie
O. Finley died in Chicago at age 77. |
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1997: Deng Xiaoping, the last
of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died. |
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1997: Detroit's daily
newspapers accepted a back-to-work offer from employees who'd been on strike for 19
months, but the strikers charged the conditions for return amounted to a lockout |
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1998: UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan set out for Iraq on a last-chance peace mission, saying he was "reasonably
optimistic" about ending the standoff over weapons inspections without the use of
force. |
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1998: At the Nagano Olympics,
Austrian Hermann Maier won the men's giant slalom while Hilde Gerg of Germany won the
women's slalom. |
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1998: Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright again drew a sceptical response from America's heartland to the tough
U.S. policy on Iraq. Her reception in a lecture hall in Nashville, Tennassee, was polite,
in contrast to the raucous session of heckling in Columbus, Ohio, but the student
questioners displayed similar mistrust of the policy. |
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1998: Northern California got
walloped again with high winds and drenching rain as yet another El Nino-driven storm
pounded in from the Pacific. Police in Petaluma, 30 miles north of San Francisco, ordered
mandatory evacuation of about 60 homes threatened by flooding, while a flash flood watch
was issued for the entire San Francisco Bay area. |
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1999: President Clinton posthumously pardoned Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, whose military career was tarnished by a racially motivated discharge. |
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2000: George W. Bush defeated John McCain in the South Carolina Republican primary. |
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