TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 18
1478 George, the Duke of Clarence, who had opposed his brother Edward IV, is murdered in the Tower of London.
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 in Germantown, Pa. adopt the first formal antislavery resolution in America.
1841 The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It lasted until March 11th.
1861 Jefferson F. Davis is inaugurated as the Confederacy’s provisional president at a ceremony held in Montgomery, Ala.
1878 The bitter and bloody Lincoln County War begins with the murder of Billy the Kid’s mentor, Englishman rancher John Tunstall.
1885 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in New York.
1907 600,000 tons of grain are sent to Russia to relieve the famine there.
1930 Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system, was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.
1937 Dust storms hit five states-in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Within a few days, a dozen deaths had occurred. Likewise, influenza and pneumonia patients were easily affected, as the dust storms had made breathing difficult for them.
1943 A small group of anti Nazi students known as the White Rose movement were arrested after distributing leaflets with anti NAZI Propaganda are arrested and sentenced 5 days later by “The Peoples Court” to death and are beheaded.
1943 The Gestapo arrests German resistance fighter Sophie Scholl and other White Rose activists
1945 U.S. Marines storm ashore at Iwo Jima.
1953 The first 3-D movie, Bwana Devil, opened in New York.
1954 East and West Berlin drop thousands of propaganda leaflets on each other after the end of a month long truce.
1954 The first Church of Scientology is established
1962 Robert F. Kennedy says that U.S. troops will stay in Vietnam until Communism is defeated.
1964 The United States cuts military aid to five nations in reprisal for having trade relations with Cuba.
1968 Three U.S. pilots that were held by the Vietnamese arrive in Washington.
1970 Five of the Chicago Seven defendants were found guilty of intent to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic national convention. The convictions were later overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on November 21st, 1972.
1972 The California Supreme Court voids the death penalty.
1974 Randolph Hearst is to give $2 million in free food for the poor in order to open talks for his daughter Patty.
1977 The Space Shuttle takes off on its maiden flight
1998 In Nevada, two white separatists were arrested and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on subways in New York City.
2001 FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for Russia.
2001 Dale Earnhardt died in a crash during the Daytona 500
2003 In South Korea, at least 120 people were killed when a man lit a fire on a subway train.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
