This Month in History February

Feb 1, 2003 – Sixteen minutes before it was scheduled to land, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart in flight over west Texas, killing all seven crew members.

The accident may have resulted from damage caused during liftoff when a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank broke off, piercing a hole in the shuttle’s left wing that allowed hot gases to penetrate the wing upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. This was the second space shuttle lost in flight. In January 1986, Challenger exploded during liftoff.

Feb 2, 1882 – Irish novelist and poet James Joyce  was born in Dublin, Ireland. His works include Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finegan’s Wake.

Feb 2, 1990 – In South Africa, the 30-year-old ban on the African National Congress was lifted by President F.W. de Klerk, who also promised to free Nelson Mandela and remove restrictions on political opposition groups.

Feb 3, 1870 – The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing the right of citizens to vote, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Feb 3, 1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting Congress the authority to collect income taxes.

Feb 3, 1821 – The first female physician in the U.S., Elizabeth Blackwell was born near Bristol, England. As a girl, her family moved to New York State. She was awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, in 1849.

Feb 3, 1943 – An extraordinary act of heroism occurred in the icy waters off Greenland after the U.S. Army transport ship Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo and began to sink rapidly. When it became apparent there were not enough life jackets, four U.S. Army chaplains on board removed theirs, handed them to frightened young soldiers, and chose to go down with the ship while praying.

Feb 4, 1985 – Twenty countries in the United Nations signed a document entitled ‘Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.’

Feb 5, 1917 – The new constitution of Mexico, allowing sweeping social changes, was adopted.

Feb 5, 1990 – The Kashmir Solidarity Day is observed on 5 February every year since 1990 in Pakistan as a day of protest against the Indian control of part of Kashmir. It is a national holiday in Pakistan.

Feb 6, 1788 – Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the new U.S. Constitution by a vote of 187 to 168.

Feb 6, 1952 – King George VI of England died. Upon his death, his daughter Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Her actual coronation took place on June 2, 1953.

Feb 7, 1795 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting the powers of the federal judiciary over the states by prohibiting federal lawsuits against individual states.

Feb 7, 1812 – British novelist Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England. He expressed social inequalities in his works including David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby. In 1843, he wrote A Christmas Carol in just a few weeks, which is an enormously popular work even today.

Feb 8, 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America was founded by William Boyce in Washington, D.C., modelled after the British Boy Scouts.

Feb 9, 1943 – During World War II in the Pacific, the U.S. troops captured Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands after six months of battle, with 9,000 Japanese and 2,000 Americans killed.

Feb 10, 1942 – The first Medal of Honor during World War II was awarded to 2nd Lt. Alexander Nininger (posthumously) for heroism during the Battle of Bataan.

Febr 11, 1847 – American inventor Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio. Throughout his lifetime he acquired over 1,200 patents including the incandescent bulb, phonograph and movie camera. Best known for his quote ‘Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.’

Feb 11, 1929 – Italian dictator Benito Mussolini granted political independence to Vatican City and recognized the sovereignty of the Pope (Holy See) over the area, measuring about 110 acres.

Feb 11, 1990 – In South Africa, Nelson Mandela, at 71, was released from prison after serving 27 years in jail on charges of attempting to overthrow the apartheid government. In April 1994, he was elected president in the first all-race elections

Feb 11, 2011 – In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak resigned amid a massive protest calling for his ouster. Thousands of young Egyptians and others had protested non-stop for 18 days in Cairo, Alexandria and elsewhere. Mubarak had ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years, functioning as a virtual dictator.

Feb 12, 1809 – Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky. He led the nation through the tumultuous Civil War, freed the slaves, composed the Gettysburg Address, and established Thanksgiving.

Feb 12, 1999 – The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in the U.S. Senate ended. With the whole world watching via television, Senators stood up one by one during the final roll call to vote ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty.’

Feb 13, 1945 – During World War II in Europe, British and American planes began massive bombing on Dresden, Germany. A four-day firestorm erupted that was visible for 200 miles and it engulfed the historic old city, killing an estimated 135,000 German civilians.

Feb 14 – Celebrated as (Saint) Valentine’s Day around the world, now one of the most widely observed unofficial holidays in which romantic greeting cards and gifts are exchanged.

Feb 14, 1929 – The St. Valentine’s Day massacre occurred in Chicago as seven members of the Bugs Moran gang were gunned down by five of Al Capone’s mobsters posing as police.

Feb 15, 1564 – Astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was born in Pisa, Italy. He was the first astronomer to use a telescope and advanced the theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the solar system.

Feb 15, 1989 – Soviet Russia completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan after nine years of unsuccessful involvement in the civil war between Muslim rebel groups and the Russian-backed Afghan government. Over 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting.

Feb 16, 1935 – Entertainer and politician Sonny Bono was born in Detroit, Michigan. Following a career as a popular singer, he became mayor of Palm Springs, California, and then became a Republican congressman, serving until his accidental death from a skiing mishap.

Feb 17, 1909 – Apache Chief Geronimo (1829-1909) died while in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He had led a small group of warriors on raids throughout Arizona and New Mexico. Caught once, he escaped. The U.S. Army then sent 5,000 men to recapture him.

Feb 18, 1892 – American politician Wendell Willkie was born in Elwood, Illinois. He was the Republican nominee for president in 1940, running against Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Feb 19, 1942 – Internment of Japanese Americans began after President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order requiring those living on the Pacific coast to report for relocation. Over 110,000 persons therefore shut down their businesses, sold off their property, quit school and moved inland to the relocation centers.

Feb 20, 1962 – Astronaut John Glenn became the first American launched into orbit. Traveling aboard the ‘Friendship 7’ spacecraft, Glenn reached an altitude of 162 miles (260kms) and completed three orbits in a flight lasting just under five hours.

Feb 21, 1965 – Former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X (1925-1965) was shot and killed while delivering a speech in a ballroom in New York City.

Feb 21, 1972 – President Richard Nixon arrived in China for historic meetings with Chairman Mao Tse-tung and Premier Chou En-lai.

Feb 22, 1732 – George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He served as commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and became the first U.S. President.

Feb 22, 1956 – In Montgomery, Alabama, 80 participants in the three-month-old bus boycott voluntarily gave themselves up for arrest after an ultimatum from white city leaders. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were among those arrested.

Feb 23, 1991 – In Desert Storm, the Allied ground offensive began after a devastating month-long air campaign targeting Iraqi troops in both Iraq and Kuwait.

Feb 24, 1867 – The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson.

Feb 25, 1910 – Millicent Fenwick was born in New York City. She championed liberal causes, serving as a member of the U.N. General Assembly and as a U.S. Congresswoman.

Feb 26, 1848 – The Communist Manifesto pamphlet was published by two young socialists, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It advocated the abolition of all private property and a system in which workers own all means of production, land, factories and machinery.

February 26, 1994 – Political foes of Russian President Boris Yeltsin were freed by a general amnesty granted by the new Russian Parliament.

February 27, 1950 – The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting the president to two terms or a maximum of ten years in office.

February 28, 1986 – Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (1927-1986) was assassinated in Stockholm while exiting a movie theater with his wife.