Event of Interest
1504 Christopher Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
Christopher Columbus
Salem Witch Trials
1692 First people are accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a West Indian slave
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- 1696 English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption
- 1704 French & Indians attack Deerfield, Massachusetts, kill 50, abduct 100
- 1712 February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
- 1720 Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns
Event of Interest
1768 Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski joins the Bar Confederation to defend the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence
Casimir Pulaski
Event of Interest
1784 Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille
Marquis de Sade
- 1796 Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England
Event of Interest
1832 Charles Darwin walks through the tropical forests of Bahia in Brazil, describing the experience as being in "transports of pleasure"
Charles Darwin
Event of Interest
1868 1st British government of Benjamin Disraeli forms
Benjamin Disraeli
Event of Interest
1904 Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus
Theodore Roosevelt
- 1908 Dutch scientists produce solid helium
- 1920 Trying to maintain independence from Germany and the USSR, Czechoslovakia adopts a constitution
- 1932 Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland
- 1932 TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
Event of Interest
1936 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs 2nd Neutrality Act
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Event of Interest
1944 Karol Wojtyla, future Pope John Paul II, is run down and injured by a Nazi truck in Krakow
John Paul II
- 1948 Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers
- 1952 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Ria Falk & Paul Falk of West Germany
- 1952 Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Jacqueline du Bief of France
- 1952 Dick Button leads an unprecedented American sweep when he wins World Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris; beats compatriots James Grogan and Hayes Alan Jenkins for his 5th straight world title
- 1952 The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
- 1956 Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan
Event of Interest
1956 US President Eisenhower announces he will seek a 2nd term
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Theater Premiere
1960 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago
Hugh Hefner
- 1960 Agadir earthquake in Morocco kills a third of the population (12,000-15,000)
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
- 1968 US end regular flights with nuclear bombs
- 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Comm) reports against racism & demands aid given to blacks
- 1972 Jack Anderson discloses Dita Beard (ITT) memo indicating antitrust charges were dropped for $400,000 contribution to Republican Party
- 1980 Michael Bracey ends 59 h 55 m trapped in an elevator, England
Event of Interest
1984 Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau
- 1988 KWK-FM in St Louis Missouri changes call letters to WKBG
Ronald Reagan
- 1988 Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WW II deportations
- 1996 Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-23 returning from Mir space station
- 1996 Serb forces withdraw from Sarajevo, ending the siege after 1,425 days, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare
- 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
- 2020 US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war in Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. US and NATO allies will withdraw their troops after 14 months if deal kept.