TODAY HISTORY LESSON: FEBRUARY 2
0962 Otto I invades Italy and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1494 Columbus begins the practice of using Indians as slaves.
1571 All eight members of a Jesuit mission in Virginia are murdered by Indians who pretended to be their friends.
1626 Charles I is crowned King of England. Fierce internal struggles between the monarchy and Parliament characterized 17th century English politics.
1653 New Amsterdam becomes a city (later renamed New York)
1802 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25¢)
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican–American War: US acquires Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona for $15 million
1852 The first public flushing toilet is opened in London
1870 The press agencies Havas, Reuter and Wolff sign an agreement whereby between them they can cover the whole world.
1870 The “Cardiff Giant” was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum. The discovery in Cardiff, NY, was alleged to be the petrified remains of a human.
1876 The National Baseball League is founded with eight teams
1887 The first gathering at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsatawney, Pa. to wait for the groundhog’s shadow occurred.
1892 Longest boxing match under modern rules; 77 rounds in Nameoki, Illinois between Harry Sharpe & Frank Crosby
1897 The Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg was destroyed by fire. The new statehouse was dedicated nine years later on the same site.
1916 U.S. Senate votes independence for Philippines, effective in 1921.
1922 “Ulysses” by James Joyce is published
1925 20 mushers embark on a journey to transport medicine to Nome, Alaska, inspiring the Iditarod Race
1931 1st use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria)
1948 President Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
1959 Arlington and Norfolk, Va., peacefully desegregate public schools.
1960 The U.S. Senate approves 23rd Amendment calling for a ban on the poll tax.
1964 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy’s toy
1971 Idi Amin became dictator of Uganda.
1980 FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected & public officials for bribes for political favors
1987 Largest steel strike in American history, in progress since August, ends.
1989 The final Russian armored column left Kabul, Afghanistan, after nine years of military occupation.
1990 The South African Apartheid system of racial segregation begins to disintegrate
1998 U.S. President Clinton introduced the first balanced budget in 30 years.
2004 It was reported that a white powder had been found in an office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) later confirmed that the powder was the poison ricin.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
