TODAY HISTORY LESSON: FEBRUARY 7
0457 A Thracian officer by the name of Leo is proclaimed as emperor of the East by the army general, Aspar, on the death of the Emperor Marcian.
1238 The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir
1668 The Netherlands, England and Sweden conclude an alliance directed against Louis XIV of France.
1783 Great Siege of Gibraltar launched by France and Spain against the British colony during American War of Independence is lifted after 3 years and 7 months
1795 11th Amendment to US Constitution ratified, affirms power of states
1817 Baltimore becomes the 1st American city lit by gas street lamps with the first turned on at Market and Lemon Streets (currently Baltimore and Holliday Streets)
1818 The first successful U.S. educational magazine, Academician, begins publication in New York City.
1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate “I had rather be right than president”
1882 American pugilist John L. Sullivan becomes the last of the bare-knuckle world heavyweight champions with his defeat of Patty Ryan in Mississippi City.
1904 Baltimore catches fire (1500 buildings destroyed in 80 blocks)
1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts silent film character The Tramp in “Kid Auto Races at Venice”
1926 Negro History Week, originated by Carter G. Woodson, is observed for the first time.
1936 A flag is authorized for US Vice President
1940 Walt Disney’s second feature length movie, “Pinocchio” premieres (NYC)
1950 The United States recognizes Vietnam under the leadership of Emperor Bao Dai, not Ho Chi Minh who is recognized by the Soviets.
1950 Senator Joe McCarthy finds “communists” in US Department of State (equiv. Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
1964 The British band The Beatles are greeted by 25,000 fans upon their arrival in the United States at JFK Airport.
1973 US Senate creates Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
1974 Mel Brooks’ film “Blazing Saddles” opens in movie theaters starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder
1983 Iran opens an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
1984 NSpace shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart made the first untethered space walk.
1985 “Sports Illustrated” released its annual swimsuit edition. It was the largest regular edition in the magazine’s history at 218 pages.
1986 Haiti’s President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier flees to France: Henri Namphy becomes leader of Haiti
1991 The IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
1992 The European Union is established as the Maastricht Treaty is signed
1999 NASA’s Stardust space probe was launched. The mission was to return comet dust samples from comet Wild 2. The mission was completed on January 15, 2006 when the sample return capsule returned to Earth.
2009 The Black Saturday bushfires in Australia kill 173 people
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
