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.
1688 Quakers in Germantown, Pa. adopt the first formal antislavery resolution in America.
1841 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11
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.
1930 Pluto is discovered
1932 Manchurian independence is formally declared.
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 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.
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.
2001 Dale Earnhardt died in a crash during the Daytona 500
2001 FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for Russia.
2005 Fox hunting with dogs becomes illegal in England and Wales which is bitterly opposed by the Countryside Alliance which supports fox hunting.
2009 General Motors says that it will be cutting 47,000 jobs worldwide
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
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
