TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 21
1245 Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery
1431 Joan of Arc’s first day of interrogation during her trial for heresy
1782 US Congress resolves establishment of a US mint
1792 US Congress passes Presidential Succession Act
1842 1st known sewing machine patented in US, John Greenough, Washington, D.C.
1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish “The Communist Manifesto” in London
1858 Edwin T Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston, Massachusetts)
1878 The first telephone book was issued (New Haven, Conn.).
1902 Dr Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, performs his 1st brain operation
1916 World War I: Battle of Verdun begins with a German offensive, leads to an estimated 1 million casualties and becomes the longest battle of the entire war (9 months)
1925 The first issue of “The New Yorker” was published.
1947 1st instant developing camera demonstrated by Edwin Land in NYC
1965 Rights activist Malcolm X is shot dead by Nation of Islam followers at Audubon Ballroom in New York City
1972 Richard Nixon becomes the first US President to visit China, normalizing relations between the countries in a meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing
1973 Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the Sinai Desert. More than 100 people were killed.
1975 Watergate figures John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman & John D Ehrlichman sentenced to 2½-8 yrs for conspiracy and obstruction of justice
1986 AIDS patient Ryan White returns to classes at Western Middle School
1988 In Baton Rouge, LA, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he was guilty of an unspecified sin. He announced that he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. Swaggart had been linked to an admitted prostitute.
2002 It was confirmed that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was dead, allegedly murdered by Islamic militants.
2012 Yemeni voters go to the polls for a presidential election where the only candidate on the ballot paper is vice-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi
2013 83 people are killed and 250 are injured in a series of bombing attacks in Damascus, Syria
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
