TODAY HISTORY LESSON: FEBRUARY 19
356 Emperor Constantius II shuts all heathen temples
1408 The revolt of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, against King Henry IV, ends with his defeat and death at Bramham Moor.
1674 The Netherlands and England signed the Peace of Westminster, by which New Amsterdam passed to the English (and was renamed New York).
1803 Congress accepts Ohio’s constitution, statehood not ratified till 1953
1807 Aaron Burr, vice president under Thomas Jefferson, was arrested for treason. He was later acquitted.
1846 The formal transfer of government between Texas and the United States took place. Texas had officially become a state on December 29, 1845.
1847 Rescuers finally reach the ill-fated Donner Party in the Sierras.
1859 Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used
1861 Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom.
1878 Thomas Edison is granted a patent for his gramophone (phonograph)
1881 Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages
1913 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box
1917 American troops are recalled from the Mexican border.
1926 Dr. Lane of Princeton estimates the earth’s age at one billion years.
1942 President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that resulted in the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.
1945 US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese with 30,000 US Marines
1953 The State of Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the U.S. Newspapers were excluded from the new legislation.
1960 Bil Keane’s “Family Circus” cartoon strip debuts
1965 Fourteen Vietnam War protesters are arrested for blocking the United Nations’ doors in New York.
1968 The first nationwide broadcast of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood aired on PBS.
1981 The U.S. State Department calls El Salvador a “textbook case” of a Communist plot.
1985 Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola
1986 The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification.
1986 The “Mir” Space Station is launched
1997 FCC makes available 311 for non-emergency calls & 711 for hearing or speech-impaired emergency calls
2004 Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader’s collapse. Skilling was later convicted and sentenced to more than 24 years in prison.
2005 The USS Jimmy Carter was commissioned at Groton, CT. It was the last of the Seawolf class of attack submarines.
2008 Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency. His brother Raul was later named as his successor.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
