TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 17
1568 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II agrees to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire for peace
1600 Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de’ Fiori in Rome, charged with heresy by the Roman Inquisition
1720 Spain signs the Treaty of the Hague with the Quadruple Alliance ending a war that was begun in 1718.
1801 The House of Representatives breaks an electoral college tie and chooses Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr.
1815 Treaty of Ghent ratified by the US Senate and signed by President James Madison ending War of 1812, over a month after it was signed in Europe
1864 The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union’s ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, S.C.
1865 The South Carolina capital city, Columbia, is destroyed by fire as Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marches through.
1897 National Organization of Mothers forms (Parent Teacher Association)
1909 Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
1925 The first issue of Harold Ross’ magazine, The New Yorker, hits the stands, selling for 15 cents a copy.
1933 First issue of American news magazine “Newsweek” is published
1936 The world’s first superhero, The Phantom, a cartoon strip by Lee Falk, makes his first appearance in comics.
1938 The first color television is demonstrated at the Dominion Theatre in London.
1947 Voice of America begins broadcasting to USSR
1955 Britain announces its ability to make hydrogen bombs.
1964 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that congressional districts within each state had to be approximately equal in population. (Westberry v. Sanders)
1969 Golda Meir sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Israel
1972 Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model T
1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history
1992 In Milwaukee, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison. In November of 1994, he was beaten to death in prison.
1995 Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive & manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked
2013 37 people are killed and 130 are injured in a series of Baghdad car bombings
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
