On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on February 14:
1483 Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah prince/founder Mogols-dynasty
1533 Christianus Adrichomius Dutch priest/writer (Vita Jesu Christi)
1679 Georg Friedrich Kauffman composer
1707 Claude-Prosper J de Crébillon French writer (Le sopha)
1760 Richard Allen Philadelphia PA, 1st black ordained by Methodist-Episcopal church
1813 John McNeil Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1891
1817 Frederick Douglass African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor
1819 James Green Martin Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1878
1824 Winfield Scott Hancock Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1886
1829 Alfred Iverson Jr Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1911
1838 Margaret Knight inventor, "the female Thomas Edison"
1859 George Washington Gale Ferris engineer/inventor (Ferris Wheel)
1864 Israel Zangwill England, Jewish author/Zionist (Children of Ghetto)
1869 Charles Wilson English physicist (Wilson cloud chamber-Nobel)
1892 Nikolaj A Orloff Russian/British pianist (Chopin)
1894 Jack Benny [Benjamin Kubelski], Waukegan IL,
1898 Fritz Zwicky Swiss astronomer (super nova)
1902 Ray "Crash" Corrigan Milwaukee WI, cowboy (Crash Corrigan's Ranch)
1905 Thelma Ritter Brooklyn NY, actress (Miracle on 34th Street)
1913 Jimmy Hoffa Teamsters leader who disappeared in 1975
1913 Mel Allen Birmingham AL, sportscaster (voice of the New York Yankees)
1917 Herbert A Hauptman New York NY, x-ray crystallographer (Nobel 1985)
1921 Hugh Downs Akron OH, TV journalist (Jcak Parr show, 20/20, Concentration)
1921 Skeezix of "Gasoline Alley" discovered on Wallets' doorstep
1931 Phyllis McGuire Middletown OH, singer (McGuire Sisters)
1929 Vic Morrow Bronx NY, actor (Combat, Roots, Twilight Zone the Movie)
1934 Florence Henderson Dale IN, actress/singer (Carol-Brady Bunch)
1935 Mickey Wright San Diego CA, LPGA golfer (4 times LPGA champion)
1940 Porpoise 1st born in captivity in US (Marineland, Florida)
1941 Paul Tsongas (Senator-D-MA)
1944 Carl Bernstein Washington Post investigative reporter (Watergate)
1945 Gregory Hines New York NY, actor/dancer (White Nights, Taps)
1948 Raymond Joseph Teller Philadelphia PA, magician (Penn & Teller)
1956 Dave Dravecky pitcher (San Francisco Giants), had arm amputated
1960 Meg Tilly [Margaret], Los Angeles CA, actress (Big Chill, Impulse)
1972 Drew Bledsoe NFL quarterback (New England Patriots)
1972 Erika Rachael Schwarz Folsom LA, Miss Louisiana-America (1996-2nd)
Deaths which occurred on February 14:
0869 Cyrillus Greek apostle of Slaves, dies
1400 Richard II British King (1377-99), murdered at 33 at Pontefract Castle
1405 Timur/Tamerlan "Lenk" [Crippled], Mongols monarch, dies at about 68
1779 James Cook British explorer, murdered by natives in fracas with Hawaiians
1780 William Blackstone English lawyer, dies at 56
1831 Vincente Guerrero Mexican revolutionary hero, dies
1891 William Tecumseh Sherman Union Civil War General (captured Atlanta), dies at 71
1943 Frieda Reiss French 11 month old baby, murdered in Auschwitz
1967 James Schneider actor (Keystone Kops), dies at 85
1969 Vito Genovese US mafia chief, dies at 71
1975 Pelham G Wodehouse English/US writer (Piccadilly Jim), dies at 93
1988 Frederick Loewe US composer (My Fair Lady), dies at 84
1994 Gary "BB" Coleman blues vocal/guitarist/producer, dies at 47
1999 John D. Ehrlichman, President Nixon's domestic adviser imprisoned for his role in the Watergate cover-up that ultimately led to Nixon's resignation, dies in Atlanta at age 73.
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1966 HILLS JOHN R.---SOUTH BEND IN.
1967 MARVIN ROBERT C.---DEXTER MI.
1968 DUNN JOSEPH P.---HULL MA.
1968 ELLIOT ROBERT M.---SPRINGFIELD MA
[SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS INDICATE CAPTURE, REMAINS RETURNED 12/27/99]
1968 MC MAHAN ROBERT C.---JACKSONVILLE IL.
[REMAINS RETURNED 9/90, 11/28/90 I.D.]
1969 CLARK STANLEY S.---MODESTO CA.
1969 STEVENS LARRY J.---CANOGA PARK CA.
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
0842 Charles II & Louis the German sign treaty
1014 Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II, Roman German emperor
1076 Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV
1349 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France
1540 Emperor Charles V enters Ghent without resistance, executes rebels
1556 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared a heretic
1670 Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna
1689 English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince Willem III on the throne
1711 Händels opera Rinaldo, premieres
1778 "Stars & Stripes" arrives in foreign port for 1st time (France)
1794 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA
1848 James K Polk became 1st President photographed in office (Matthew Brady)
1859 Oregon admitted as 33rd state
1862 Galena, 1st US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut
1867 Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company issues 1st policy
1867 Morehouse College organizes (Augusta GA)
1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)
1876 A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents; Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor
1879 Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions
1889 1st trainload of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for the east
1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star
1896 Stanley Cup Winnipeg Victorias beat Montréal Victorias, 2-0
1896 Theodor Herzl publishes "Der Judenstaat"
1899 US Congress begins using voting machines
1903 US Dept of Commerce & Labor established
1907 1st US fox hound association forms in New York NY
1912 1st US submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton CT
1912 Arizona becomes 48th state
1919 United Parcel Service forms
1920 League of Women Voters forms in Chicago
1921 Little Review faces obscenity charges for publishing "Ulysses", New York
1924 IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson
1929 St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago IL, 7 gangsters killed
1936 National Negro Congress organizes in Chicago
1939 Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of Gone With the Wind
1940 British merchant vessel fleet is armed
1941 1,000,000th vehicle traverses the New York Midtown Tunnel
1941 German Africa Corps lands in Tripoli, Libya
1942 Japanese parachutists land near oil center Palembang Sumatra
1943 German offensive through de Faid-pass Tunisia
1943 Soviets recapture Rostov
1944 Anti-Japanese revolt on Java
1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1946 Bank of England nationalized
1949 1st session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem
1950 USSR & China sign peace treaty
1951 "Sugar" Ray Robinson defeats Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta & takes middleweight title
1954 Senator John Kennedy appears on "Meet the Press"
1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at USSR Communist Party Conference
1956 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
1957 Georgia Senate unanimously approves Senator Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites
1958 Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms
1959 $3.6 million heroin seizure in New York NY
1960 Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
1961 Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley CA
1962 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV
1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1
1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points
1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"
1971 Movie "Ben Hur" 1st shown on television
1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House
1972 John & Yoko co-host "Mike Douglas Show" for entire week
1972 Luna 20 (Russia) launched to orbit & soft landing on Moon
1978 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments
1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut
1988 Bobby Allison at 50 becomes oldest driver to win Daytona 500
1989 Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic
1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster
1989 Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"
1990 Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system
1992 Cease fire in Somalia begins
1994 Alexander Golubev skates Olympics record 500 meter (36.33)
2000 Turkey, 8 people were killed in 2 clashes between Hezbollah and police.
2001 A Palestinian crashed a bus into Israeli soldiers and civilians standing at a bus stop in Azur, Israel, killing eight. (The driver, Khalil Abu Olbeh, was later sentenced to eight life terms.)
2002 In Bahrain Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared himself king and approved plans for a constitutional monarchy. Parliamentary elections were scheduled for October and municipal elections in May. Women were to be allowed to vote and stand as candidates for the 1st time. Foreigners would be allowed to vote under certain conditions.
2003 In Zimbabwe 2 Valentine's Day peace parades by women clutching roses and singing hymns were broken up by baton-wielding police who arrested at least 88 people as well as eight journalists.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Arizona 1912, Oregon 1859 : Admission Day
Bulgaria : Viticulturists' Day/Trifon Zarezan, cult of Dionysus
Denmark : Gaekkebrev/Fjörtende Februar-gift exchanges by school kids
Mexico : Day of National Mourning (Vincent Guerrero-1831)
World : St Valentine's Day
US : Love and Laughter Keeps Us from Getting Dizzy Week Ends
International Boost Your Self-Esteem Month
Religious Observances
Methodist : Race Relations Sunday (2nd Sunday in February)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Valentine, physician/martyr/patron of lovers
Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of Cyril, monk/missionary to the Slavs
Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Methodius, bishop/missionary to the Slavs
Religious History
1760 Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church (1799), and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816, was born in slavery in Philadelphia.
1805 Colonial American theologian Henry Ware, 41, was confirmed as the first Unitarian professor to teach at Harvard University. Soon after, the Trinitarian Congregationalist teachers began withdrawing from the school, and in 1808 established Andover Theological Seminary.
1914 Birth of Ira F. Stanphill, Assemblies of God clergyman and song evangelist. He is best known today for the hymn, "Room at the Cross," which he penned in 1946.
1949 Russian-born English chemist and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, 74, was elected first president of the newly restored modern state of Israel.
1985 The U.S. Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism announced their decision to begin accepting women as rabbis.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
Some is better than none. ((HUGS))
