1219 – Jerusalem re-taken by the Christian Crusader kingdom in a peace treaty between Holy Roman Emperor Frederik II and Egyptian ruler Al-Kamil
1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London (allegedly by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine).
1685 – Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, and thus formed the basis for France’s claim to Texas.
1688 – Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa
1841 – The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It lasted until March 11th.
1856 – The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1885 – Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the U.S. for the first time.
1896 – Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for first time in 50 yrs
1908 – The American ambassador to Japan is given a note by the Japanese in which they agree to restrict Japanese emigration to the US; this becomes known as the ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’
1927 – US & Canada open diplomatic relations
1930 – The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The discovery was made as a result of photographs taken in January 1930. https://www.news9live.com/knowledge/pluto-was-discovered-on-this-day-92-years-ago-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-former-planet-154354
1943 – The Gestapo arrests German resistance fighter Sophie Scholl and other White Rose activists. 21-year-old student Scholl and her fellow campaigners were executed for having distributed flyers criticizing the Nazi regime.
1953 – Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the “I Love Lucy” TV show through 1955.
1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established. Despite many controversies, Scientology has gained thousands of members since its inception.
1965 – Church deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson is beaten and shot during a peaceful march in Marion, Alabama. His death 8 days later inspires the Selma to Montgomery marches.
1970 – The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1977 – The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden “flight” sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1988 – Anthony Kennedy, sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice
1998 – In Russia, money shortages resulted in the shutting down of three plants that produced nuclear weapons.
1998 – In Nevada, two white separatists were arrested and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on subways in New York City.
2001 – NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.
2001 – FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
2003 – In South Korea, at least 120 people were killed when a man lit a fire on a subway train.
2004 – Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.
2014 – Ukrainian Revolution of 2014 begins as protesters, riot police and unknown shooters take part in violent events in the capital, Kiev, culminating after five days in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych
2019 – 25-year old murder of a woman solved when police in Minnesota run DNA though a genealogy site and find suspect
2020 – Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy amid hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits, suspending those claims
2020 – Ashraf Ghani declared the winner of Afghanistan’s presidential elections five months after the vote, fraud allegations meant recounting
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
