The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz

General Carl Spaatz and D-Day

The recipe for a successful flag officer includes four essential ingredients: (1) the luck of Vince Lombardi, who said, “Luck is the residue of hard work and skill”; (2) the killer instinct of Robert E. Lee—not just the desire to destroy one’s enemy, something any soldier must have, but the ability to send men one admires and respects to their death; (3) the perseverance of George Washington; and (4) the ability of George C. Marshall to inspire the trust of both subordinates and superiors. A survey of the actions and decisions of Gen Carl A. Spaatz, US Army Air Forces (AAF), during the first six months of 1944 confirms that he had these qualities.

Jimmie Doolittle (center) with (l-r) LtGeneral Carl Spaatz, LtGeneral George Patton, MajGeneral Hoyt Vandenberg and BrigGeneral O.P. Weyland

Luck boils down to the favorable resolution of uncontrollable variables. The manner in which generals exploit these gifts determines their fate. The shortcomings of Spaatz’s enemies presented him an opportunity. The breaking of high-level German ciphers, sent via the supposedly secure Enigma code machine, vouchsafed all Allied commanders unparalleled knowledge of their enemies’ intentions and situation. Vital German targets, such as synthetic oil plants and large marshalling yards, used the Enigma machine to pass damage reports to Berlin, giving the Americans instant and accurate bomb damage assessments. Intercepts of Luftwaffe traffic also validated the effectiveness of American air tactics.

The very nature of the Nazi state and ideology played into the hands of Allied air leaders. Hitler’s personal isolation, coupled with his propensity to divide responsibility for the war economy into competing fiefdoms, all dependent upon himself, resulted in staggering mismanagement. With the notable exception of Albert Speer, the highest Nazi leadership had little conception of the industrial process. Almost all major German war-production decisions and priorities rested not on economic efficiency, but on the self-interest of the entities involved.

Not only did the Nazis fritter away their industrial strength, but also their ideology and individual outlook sapped their efforts. Having gained power using tactics of terror and intimidation, Hitler preferred retaliation to passive defensive measures. Resources expended on V weapons produced technical triumphs—but at the direct expense of aircraft production. Had the Germans decided to focus on fighter production and to concentrate that production in defense of the industry in 1942 instead of 1944, Spaatz’s task would have proved far more formidable.

General Spaatz examines an ME-262's Jumo 004 jet engine with Colonel Watson and General MacDonald

Spaatz possessed resources far greater than those of his predecessor Ira Eaker, for whom increases in force had come slowly. Indeed, the pipeline overflowed for Spaatz. Eighth Air Force needed 17 months to reach 20½ bomb groups, and its first long-range P-38 fighter escorts did not become operational until the day after the second Schweinfurt raid of 14 October 1943. Fifteenth Air Force, established on 1 November 1943, began life with the six heavy bomb groups that had been in the Mediterranean since May 1943. By May 1944, the Eighth had grown to 41 heavy groups, and the Fifteenth to 21. Fighter groups in Eighth Air Force and Ninth Air Force, the latter on call to fly escort for the Eighth, grew from 12 to 33 groups. Many of these groups were equipped with the extremely long range P-51 fighter and were capable of using range- extending drop tanks, whose production bottlenecks had been solved. Finally, the introduction of radar bombing devices in the fall of 1943 allowed for bombing through clouds, but only with extreme inaccuracy. Bombing through complete overcast caused only one bomb in 70 to land within one-half mile of the aiming point. Bombing a target a mile in diameter in good visual weather, however, was 50 times more accurate. Spaatz and his lieutenants James H. Doolittle (Eighth Air Force) and Nathan F. Twining (Fifteenth Air Force) capitalized on German inefficiency and American prodigality by greatly increasing their rates of operation. The combination of more sorties and more aircraft gave Spaatz a far bigger hammer than Eaker’s.

Presentation of Colliers Trophy to Gen. Carl Spaatz by President Truman, December 17, 1945. General Spaatz went on to become the first leader of the Army Air Forces.

Spaatz, like other generals, was a killer of men. In the winter and spring of 1944, he began a campaign of straightforward attrition against the Luftwaffe day-fighter force for the purpose of extinguishing its capacity to interfere with American bomber operations and the upcoming cross-channel invasion. This air campaign would eviscerate the Luftwaffe’s air leadership cadres, forcing it into a descending spiral of inexperience and increasing losses from operations and accidents. Within a few weeks of his arrival in London, in late December 1943, he authorized Doolittle to implement the fighter escort tactics the two men had already employed in the Mediterranean. Instead of maintaining close escort, which forced American fighters to absorb the first blow, Doolittle ordered his fighters to take the initiative by attacking and pursuing German fighters. Spaatz and Doolittle risked their bombers in order to expose the enemy. As aerial combat raged and as escort fighters flew to and from their rendezvous with the bomber stream, fighter pilots found themselves at low altitudes and proceeded to strafe targets of opportunity. When Enigma intercepts alerted American air leaders that this caused havoc, Spaatz encouraged the practice. The enemy responded by setting up flak traps at likely strafing targets, which killed, wounded, or resulted in the capture of more American fighter pilots than any other tactic. Spaatz continued the low-level attacks until April 1945. Soon the Luftwaffe could no longer conduct any operations, including training and air transport, without fear of interference.

In order to force the Luftwaffe to accept battle, Spaatz ordered a continuing series of deep-penetration missions into the Reich. Starting on 11 January 1944, Americans attacked the German air industry, and both sides suffered heavy losses. When cloud cover prevented precision bombing of air plants or other specific targets, Spaatz ordered area raids on German cities, particularly Frankfurt. Forty percent of all such raids ordered or authorized by Eighth Air Force took place between February and May 1944. The Germans either opposed the raids, as they usually did, or allowed uncontested city attacks at the cost of civilian morale and production. In mid-February, under orders from Arnold, Spaatz and Doolittle—without protest—extended the bomber crews’ combat tour from 25 to 30 missions. At the end of the month, the Americans conducted Operation Argument or “Big Week,” which dealt a body blow to the enemy air industry. Spaatz was determined to initiate and continue the operation, even if it cost two hundred bombers on the first day. After Big Week, Spaatz wished to switch priorities to the German synthetic oil industry, a target system whose sovereign importance to the entire German war machine would require the Luftwaffe to defend it or die trying. As discussed below, this change was delayed until May.

Thus, at the beginning of March, Spaatz ordered a series of area attacks on Berlin that went straight over the top, making no attempt to conceal their intentions and targets from the defenders. The importance of the city as an industrial, transportation, and administrative center guaranteed a fierce response. In its first major attack on the German capital on 6 March, the Eighth lost 69 heavy bombers—the highest number ever lost on a single mission. On 8 March, the Americans lost another 37 bombers over the “Big B,” but the next mission saw no aerial opposition. By 6 June, the Americans had achieved daylight air superiority over Europe at the cost of over twenty-seven hundred bombers, almost one thousand fighters, and over 18,000 casualties—50 percent more than they had lost in all of 1942 and 1943 combined.

Spaatz’s ability to persevere reflected the courage of his convictions. In the months preceding the cross-channel invasion, one question directly affected Spaatz—in what manner could strategic bombers best aid the invasion? Gen Dwight Eisenhower’s air component commander, Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Trafford Leigh-Mallory, and Eisenhower’s deputy supreme commander, ACM Arthur Tedder, advocated the transportation plan, which called for attritional bombing of the French and Belgian rail systems to render them incapable of allowing speedy reinforcement or easy logistical support of German forces opposing the invasion. Spaatz’s headquarters originated a competing oil plan that called first for the destruction of refineries at Ploesti, Romania—the principal source of natural oil for the Axis—and then the destruction of the synthetic oil industry. Loss of oil would fatally hamper any German response to the invasion and the Soviet summer offensive.

"Tatty" Spaatz (far left), Red Cross girl and daughter of Gen. Spaatz, serving coffee and spam sandwiches to crews just returned from a mission

The oil plan was the quintessential strategic bombing plan. By destroying a compact and absolutely crucial target system, with only three weeks of visual bombing, airpower would make an important contribution to the end of the war. For Spaatz, the oil plan had an additional advantage: it allowed the Americans to continue the attrition of the Luftwaffe and to fly precision missions into Germany, which justified AAF strategic doctrine. After bitter bureaucratic infighting among Allied ground and air staffs, Eisenhower chose the transportation plan on 25 March because it offered measurable results; the effects of the oil plan, although logical, could not be verified with existing Allied intelligence.

As is true of every major decision—whether military, corporate, or political—one faction or person will not accept that decision as final. In April 1944, Spaatz was that person. Throughout March, ACM Charles Portal, the Royal Air Force (RAF) chief of staff and the officer charged with direction of the Combined Bomber Offensive by the Combined Chiefs of Staff, had refused to allow Spaatz to order Fifteenth Air Force to attack the Ploesti oil complex, producer of 25 percent of Germany’s oil. Portal did not want to draw the Fifteenth away from its duties to Operation Pointblank and its assistance to the Allied ground forces; further, Portal regarded the bombing of Balkan rail yards as more militarily effective than bombing oil fields. An attack on the Romanian fields would also strengthen Spaatz’s hand in the oil-versus-transportation dispute. It made little sense to strike Ploesti, forcing a greater German reliance on synthetic oil, and then ignore that target system.

On 5 April, Spaatz resorted to subterfuge. Under the guise of attacking Ploesti’s main rail yard (each oil refinery also had its own such yard), the Fifteenth made its first raid on Romanian oil. As the official history of the AAF noted with some satisfaction, “Most of the 588 tons of bombs, with more than coincidental accuracy, struck and badly damaged the Astra group of refineries.” On 15 and 26 April, the Fifteenth returned, again somehow missing the main rail yard and unfortunately damaging more Axis refineries. As a result of this “transportation” bombing, German imports of finished petroleum products fell from 186,000 tons in March to 104,000 tons in April.

In the United Kingdom, the Eighth continued its duel with the Luftwaffe day fighters. On 18 and 19 April, however, the Germans offered little resistance to missions near Berlin and Kassel. Rather than elating Spaatz, this circumstance seemed to confirm one of his worst fears—that the Germans had begun a policy of conservation in anticipation of the invasion. Also on 19 April, the British invoked the emergency clause in their agreements with the Americans. Specifically, Tedder informed Spaatz that the threat of the German V-1 rocket had caused the War Cabinet to declare the security of the British Isles at risk. Tedder thereupon moved Operation Crossbow—bombing the V sites—to number-one priority, ahead of the Luftwaffe. The British move threatened to gut the AAF’s entire bombing effort at precisely the time Spaatz needed to offer the Luftwaffe more provocation to fight. The Luftwaffe never bothered to resist Crossbow bombing.

Spaatz went to Eisenhower that evening and found the supreme commander upset with the AAF. First, in spite of the decision of 25 March in favor of transportation, the Eighth had yet to bomb a single transportation target, with the invasion only seven weeks distant. Second, on the previous evening, Maj Gen Henry Miller, a member of Spaatz’s staff, had gotten drunk at a nightclub in London and had proceeded to take bets that the invasion would occur before 15 June. Spaatz responded promptly, phoning Eisenhower and placing Miller under house arrest. Eisenhower followed up by demoting Miller to colonel and returning him to the States. The discussion of policy matters took longer and generated more heat. Spaatz even may have threatened to resign.

Gen Spaatz Attends The Crew Debrief of the First Atomic Bombing Mission

At last, Eisenhower agreed to allow the Eighth to use two visual-bombing days before the invasion to strike oil targets, in order to test the Luftwaffe’s reaction. For his part, Spaatz appears to have agreed to devote more energy to transportation bombing. The next morning, Spaatz visited Tedder. They agreed that on the next suitable day, the Eighth would raid Crossbow targets and that on the next two suitable days, the Americans would hit oil targets. That day, Doolittle sent almost nine hundred heavy bombers against Crossbow. On 22 April, Spaatz began to fulfill his other pledge—638 bombers attacked Hamm, the largest rail yard in Europe. Not until 12 May did weather allow oil strikes.

The first oil strike vindicated Spaatz’s judgments. The eight hundred attacking bombers hit six synthetic plants and lost 46 bombers. The Germans reacted strongly, and the American escort of 735 fighters claimed 61 destroyed in the air and five on the ground. Luftwaffe records confirmed 28 pilots dead, 26 wounded, and 65 fighters lost. Enigma messages revealed the Germans’ immediate and alarmed response. On 13 May, the Luftwaffe ordered the transfer of antiaircraft guns from fighter production plants and the eastern front to synthetic oil facilities. A week later, an order from Hitler’s headquarters ordered increased conversion of motor vehicles to highly inefficient wood generators. When Tedder heard of the intercepts, he remarked, “It looks like we’ll have to give the customer what he wants.” A week after the raid, Speer reported to Hitler that “the enemy has struck us at one of our weakest points. If [he] persists at this time, we will soon no longer have any fuel production worth mentioning. Our one hope is that the other side has an air force General Staff as scatterbrained as our own.” In that, he was disappointed. Once the invasion was established ashore, the Anglo-Allies moved oil targets to the highest priority, where they remained until the end of the war.

Spaatz possessed a good measure of the fourth necessary ingredient of a successful general—the ability to inspire trust in both superiors and subordinates. His chief lieutenant, Jimmy Doolittle, in an oral-history interview with Ronald R. Fogleman, then a major, stated, “I idolize General Spaatz. He is perhaps the only man that I have ever been closely associated with whom I have never known to make a bad decision.” This praise, coming from a man of enormous physical and moral courage and high intellect, speaks for itself.

In the much smaller circle of his superiors, Spaatz also inspired great trust. He was Arnold’s personal friend, confidant, and favorite. Arnold purposely placed Spaatz in positions that would increase the latter’s importance and influence, not so much because his actions would reflect favorably on Arnold, but because he knew that Spaatz’s first loyalty was to the service. Arnold’s abiding trust and confidence meant that Spaatz always had support in the highest areas of decision making.

Spaatz also earned Eisenhower’s esteem. From June 1942 through May 1945, the two worked hand in hand, becoming close friends—even to the unlikely extent of Spaatz playing the guitar to accompany the supreme commander’s singing when the two relaxed at parties. However, the friendship did not interfere with Eisenhower’s judgment. In June 1943, he wrote of Spaatz, “I have an impression he is not tough and hard enough personally to meet the full requirements of his high position.”

By January 1945, Ike had changed his opinion. In urging Spaatz’s promotion to a fourth star, he declared that “no one could tell him that Spaatz was not the best operational air man in the world, [although] he was not a paper man, couldn’t write what he wanted, and couldn’t conduct himself at a conference, but he had the utmost respect from everybody, ground and air, in the theater.”

Gen. Carl Spaatz congratulates Lt. Gen. Barney M. Giles as General of the Army Henry H. Arnold, left and Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker and Lt. Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenburg, extreme right look on
(U.S. Air Force Photo)

In February 1945, Eisenhower ranked Omar Bradley and Spaatz equally, calling them the two American officers who contributed most to the Allied victory in Europe. He described Spaatz as an “experienced and able air leader; loyal and cooperative; modest and selfless; always reliable.” That is an accurate and concise summary of the tongue-tied fighter pilot who became a successful general and was as responsible as anyone for the happy outcome of the Normandy invasion.

DR. RICHARD G. DAVIS

Additional Sources:

www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil
www.budiansky.com
www.military.com
www.cmohs.org
40thbombgroup.org
www.majesticdocuments.com
www.stormbirds.com
www.legendsofairpower.com
www.afa.org
www.stelzriede.com
www.brooksart.com

Today's classic warship, USS Indiana (BB-58)

South Dakota class battleship
displacement. 35,000
length. 680'
beam. 108'2"
draft. 29'3"
speed 27 k.
complement. 2,500
armament. 9 16", 20 5", 24 40mm., 16 20mm.

USS Indiana (BB-58) was launched by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., 21 November 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Lewis C. Robbins, daughter of Indiana governor Henry F. Schricker; and commissioned 30 April 1942, Captain A. A. Merrill in command.

Following shakedown in Casco Bay, Maine, the new battleship steamed through the Panama Canal to bolster U.S. fleet units in the Pacific during the critical early months of World War II. She joined Rear Admiral Lee's carrier screening force 28 November 1942. For the next 11 months, Indiana helped protect carriers Enterprise and Saratoga, then supporting American advances in the Solomons.

Indiana steamed to Pearl Harbor 21 October 1943, and departed 11 November with the support forces designated for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. The battleship protected the carriers which supported the Marines during the bloody fight for Tarawa. Then late in January 1944 she bombarded Kwajalein for 8 days prior to the Marshall Island landings, 1 February. While maneuvering to refuel destroyers that night, Indiana collided with battleship Washington. Temporary repairs to her starboard side were made at Majuro, and she arrived Pearl Harbor 13 February for additional work.

Indiana joined famed Task Force 58 for the Truk raid 29-30 April and bombarded Ponape Island 1 May. In June the battlewagon proceeded to the Marianas with a giant American fleet for the invasion of that strategic group. She bombarded Saipan 13-14 June and brought down several enemy aircraft while fighting off concentrated air attacks June 15. As the Japanese fleet closed the Marianas for a decisive naval battle, Indiana steamed out to meet them as part of Rear Admiral Lee's battle line. The great fleets approached each other 19 June for the biggest carrier engagement of the war, and as four large air raids hit the American formations, Indiana, aided by other ships in the screens and carrier planes, downed hundreds of the attackers. With able assistance from submarines, Mitscher sank two Japanese carriers in addition to inflicting fatal losses on the enemy naval air arm during "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."

Indiana shot down several planes, and sustained only two near torpedo misses. The issue decided, the battleship resumed her screening duties around the carriers, and stayed at sea 64 days in daily support of the Marianas invasion.

In August the battleship began operations as a unit of Task Group 38.3, bombarding the Palaus, and later the Philippines. She screened strikes on enemy shore installations 12-30 September 1944, helping to prepare for the coming invasion of Leyte. Indiana departed for Bremerton, Wash., arriving 23 October.

Reaching Pearl Harbor 12 December, the battleship immediately began underway training preparedness. She sailed 10 January 1945 and with a fleet of battleships and cruisers bombarded Iwo Jima 24 January. Indiana then joined Task Force 58 at Ulithi and sortied 10 February for the invasion of that strategic island, next step on the island road to Japan. She supported the carriers during a raid on Tokyo 17 February and again on 25 February, screening strikes on Iwo Jima in the interval. Indiana arrived Ulithi for replenishment 5 March 1945, having just supported a strike on the next target Okinawa.

Indiana steamed out of Ulithi 14 March for the massive Okinawa invasion, and until June 1945 steamed In support of carrier operations against Japan and Okinawa. These devastating strikes did much to aid the ground campaign and lower Japanese morale at home. During this period she often repelled enemy suicide plane attacks as the Japanese tried desperately but vainly to stem the mounting tide of defeat. In early June she rode out a terrible typhoon, and sailed to San Pedro Bay, Philippines , 13 June.

As a member of Task Group 38.1 Indiana operated from 1 July to 15 August supporting air strikes against Japan and bombarded coastal targets with her big guns. The veteran battleship arrived Tokyo Bay 5 September and 9 days later sailed for San Francisco, where she arrived 29 September 1945. She was placed in reserve in commission at Bremerton 11 September 1946. She decommissioned 11 September 1947, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet. She was stricken from the Navy List 1 June 1962 and sold for scrap. Indiana's mast is erected at the University of Indiana at Bloomington; her anchor rests at Fort Wayne; and other relics are on display in various museums and schools throughout the State.

Indiana received nine battle stars for World War II service.

Big guns in action!

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on February 09:
1404 Constantine XI Dragases last Byzantine Emperor
1441 Ali Sjir Neva'i [Fani] Turkish poet/author (Mahbub al-kulub)
1578 Giambattista Andreini Italian playwright/actor (L'adamo)
1602 Franciscus van de Enden Flemish Jesuit/free thinker/tutor of Spinoza
1744 Amos Bull composer
1772 Frans Mikael Franzén Finnish-Swedish poet (Abo)
1773 William Henry Harrison Virginia, (Whigs) 9th President (March 4-April 4, 1841)
1775 Farkas/Wolfgang Bolyai Hungary, mathematician (parallel axiom)
1814 Samuel Jones Tilden philanthropist for New York Public Library
1826 John Alexander Logan Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1886
1830 Abdül Aziz Istanbul Ottoman, 32nd sultan of Turkey (1861-76)
1846 Wilhelm Maybach German engineer, designer of 1st Mercedes
1865 Erich von Drygalski German Federal Republic, geographer/glaciologist/Antarctic explorer
1891 Ronald Colman England, 1947 Academy Award actor (Tale of 2 Cities)
1901 Brian Donlevy Portadown Ireland, actor (Barbary Coast, Glass Key, Wake Island, Dangerous Assignment)
1909 Dean Rusk US Secretary of State (1961-69)
1909 Carmen Miranda [Maria do Carmo Miranda Da Cunha] Marco de Canavezes Portugal, vocalist/actress (Copacabana, Date With Judy)
1914 Bill (Rhymes with Wreck) Veeck baseball club owner
1914 Ernest Tubb Texas, guitarist/singer (I'm Walking the Floor over You)
1928 Roger Mudd Washington DC, news anchor (CBS Weekend News, NBC Evening News)
1940 Smokey Robinson rocker (& Miracles-Tears of Clown)
1942 Carole King [Klein], Brooklyn NY, pianist/singer (Tapestry)
1943 Joe Pesci Newark NJ, actor (Half Nelson, Goodfellas)
1944 Alice Walker US, novelist (Color Purple, Meridian)
1945 Mia (Maria) Farrow Los Angeles CA, actress (Rosemary's Baby, Purple Rose of Cairo)
1947 Joe Ely Amarillo TX, country vocalist (Honky Tonk Masquerade)
1954 Ulrich Walter German Federal Republic, cosmonaut
1960 Peggy A Whitson Mt Ayr IA, PhD/astronaut
1963 Travis Tritt Marietta GA, country vocalist (Country Club)
1965 Lennox Lewis London England, Super heavyweight boxer (Olympics-gold-1988)

Deaths which occurred on February 09:
1567 Henry Stuart earl of Darnley/Consort of Mary Queen of Scots, murdered
1583 Jeseph Sanalbo Jewish convert in Rome, burned at stake
1640 Murad IV sultan of Turkey (1623-40), dies in Baghdad at 27
1881 Feodor M Dostoevski Russian novelist (Crime & Punishment), dies at 59
1945 George J L Maduro resistance fighter (Madurodam), dies in Dachau
1961 Grigory Levenfish International chess grandmaster from Russia, dies at 70
1966 Sophie Tucker Russian/US singer/actress (My Yiddish Mama), dies at 79
1969 [George] Gabby Hayes actor (Albuquerque, Colorado), dies at 83
1973 Max Yasgur owner Woodstock-festival farmland, dies at 53
1977 Gaus an orangutan who lived to be 59
1977 Sergei Ilyushin Russian airplane builder (Ilyushin), dies at 82
1978 Kimberly Leach killed by Ted Bundy in Lake City FL at 12
1981 Bill Haley vocalist (Rock Around Clock), dies of heart attack at 55
1984 Yuri Andropov General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party (1982-84), dies at 69
1995 David Wayne [Wayne Mcmeekan], US actor (Dallas), dies at 81
1995 J William Fulbright (Senator-D-AR)/anti-Vietnam War, dies at 89
1996 Adolf Galland General (Luftwaffe), dies at 83
2002 Princess Margaret sister of Queen Elizabeth II of England, dies from a stroke at 71

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 MC LEAN JAMES H.---LOS ANGELES CA.
[CAPTURE CONFIRMED]
1969 MEYERS ROGER A.--- CHICAGO IL.
1973 BOYLES HOWARD
[04/73 REMAINS RECOVERED ID INDISPUT]
1973 CAVIL JACK W.
[04/01/73 REMAINS RECOVERED]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1267 Synod of Breslau orders Jews of Silesia to wear special caps
1554 Battle at London Sir Thomas Wyatt defeated
1621 Alexander Ludovisi is elected Pope Gregory XV
1742 British ex-premier Walpole becomes earl of Orford
1744 Battle at Toulon (French/Spanish vs English fleet of Admiral Matthews)
1775 English Parliament declares Massachusetts colony is in rebellion
1799 USS Constellation captures French frigate Insurgente off Nevis, West Indies
1801 France & Austrian sign Peace of Lunéville
1807 French Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon
1825 House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams 6th US President
1861 Jefferson Davis & Alexander Stephens elected president & Vice President of CSA
1861 Tennessee votes against secession
1861 Confederate Provisional Congress declares all laws under the US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate states
1863 Fire extinguisher patented by Alanson Crane
1867 Nebraska becomes 37th US state
1870 Grant signs the bill establishing Federal Meteorological Service
1885 1st Japanese arrive in Hawaii
1886 President Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle because of anti-Chinese violence
1891 1st shipment of asparagus arrives in San Francisco from Sacramento
1893 Canal builder De Lesseps & others sentenced to prison for fraud
1893 Verdi's opera "Falstaff" premieres in Milan
1895 1st intercollegiate basketball game (Minnesota Agricultural beats Hamline, 9-3)
1895 Volleyball invented by W G Morgan in Massachusetts
1900 Dwight Davis established a new tennis trophy, the Davis Cup
1904 Japan declares war on Russia
1906 Natal proclaims state of siege in Zulu uprising
1909 1st federal legislation prohibiting narcotics (opium)
1916 Britain's military service act enforced (conscription)
1918 Army chaplain school organized at Fort Monroe VA
1920 Joint Rules Commission bans foreign substances & alterations to baseballs
1923 Soviet Aeroflot airlines established
1925 Haifa Technion (Israel), opens
1925 German Minister Stresemann proposes security treaty with France
1926 Teaching theory of evolution forbidden in Atlanta GA schools
1932 America enter Olympics 2-man bobsled competition for 1st time
1932 US airship Columbia crashes during storm (Flushing NY)
1933 -63ºF (-53ºC), Moran WY (state record)
1934 -14.3ºF (-25.8ºC), coldest day in New York City NY
1934 -51ºF (-46ºC), Vanderbilt MI (state record)
1940 Joe Louis beats Arturo Godoy in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1941 British troops conquer El Agheila
1941 Nazi collaborators destroy pro-Jewish café Alcazar Amsterdam (Alcazar refused to hang "No Entry for Jews" signs in front of cafe)
1942 Daylight Savings War Time goes into effect in US
1942 Philadelphia "Phillies" change nickname (temporarily) to "Phils"
1943 Japanese evacuate Guadalcanal, epic battle ends
1943 FDR orders minimal 48 hour work week in war industry
1943 Nazis arrest Dutch sons of rich parents
1947 Bank robber Willie Sutton escapes jail in Philadelphia PA
1948 WLWT TV channel 5 in Cincinnati OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy charges State Dept infested with 205 communists
1951 St Louis Browns sign pitcher Satchel Paige, 45
1953 "The Adventures of Superman" TV series premieres in syndication
1955 US federations of trade unions merge into AFL/CIO
1956 -5ºF (15ºC) in Sicily
1963 1st flight of Boeing 727 jet
1963 7th largest snowfall in NYC history (42.4 cm, 16.7")
1964 1st appearance of Beatles on "Ed Sullivan Show" (73.7 million viewers)
1964 GI Joe character created
1966 Dow-Jones Index hits record 995 points
1969 World's largest airplane, Boeing 747, makes 1st commercial flight
1971 Apollo 14 returns to Earth
1971 Quake in San Fernando Valley kills 65 & causes over $½ billion damage
1971 Satchel Paige becomes 1st negro-league player elected to baseball HOF
1971 Probably 1st gay theme TV episode - All in the Family
1974 "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" by Gordon Sinclair peaks at #24
1978 Ted Bundy kills Kimberly Leach, 12, Lake City FL; later executed
1979 ABC airs "Heroes of Rock N Roll" special
1986 Halley's Comet reaches 30th perihelion (closest approach to Sun)
1987 New York Stock Exchange installs ladies restroom in the Exchange Luncheon Club
1989 Michael Manley's Socialist Party wins Jamaica parliamentary election
1990 Galileo flies by Venus
1991 Voters in Lithuania vote for independence
1991 "This Is Ponderous" by 2nu peaks at #46
1994 Israeli minister Shimon Perez signs accord with PLO's Arafat
1997 Fox cartoon series "Simpsons" airs 167th episode the longest-running animated series in cartoon history
1998 Failed assassination attempt on Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

US : Boy Scouts of America Anniversary Week (Day 2)
US : New Idea Week (Day 2)
Potato Lovers Month

Religious Observances
Lebanon : St Maron Day
Methodist : Race Relations Sunday (2nd Sunday in February)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Apollonia, deaconess/martyr
Old Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Cyril of Alexandria, bishop/confessor/doctor
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Miguel Febres Cordero, Ecuadoran monk
Saint Apollonia Feast Day

Religious History
1812 Pioneer missionary Samuel Newell married fellow Congregationalist Harriet Atwood. They afterward sailed for India with Adoniram and Ann Hasseltine Judson. (Harriet Newell and Ann Judson thereby became the first American women commissioned for missionary work abroad.)
1819 Birth of William True Sleeper, New England Congregational clergyman and author of the hymns "Jesus, I Come" and "Ye Must Be Born Again."
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'In spiritual things, this world is all wintertime so long as the Savior is away.'
1930 American pioneer linguist and missionary Frank Laubach wrote in a letter: 'The sense of being led by an unseen hand which takes mine, while another hand reaches ahead and prepares the way, grows upon me daily.'
1948 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'We are tempted to despair of our world. Remind us, O Lord, that Thou hast been facing the same thing in all the world since time began.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate."

Question of the day...
Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?

Murphys Law of the day...(Children's Law)
If it tastes good, you can't have it. If it tastes awful, you'd better clean your plate

Amazing Fact #2,904...
The Cleveland Indians baseball team used to be called the Cleveland Spiders.

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