TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 9
1567 Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in his sick-bed in a house in Edinburgh when the house blows up.
1825 The House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams, sixth U.S. President.
1861 Jefferson F. Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.
1895 Volley Ball was invented by W.G. Morgan.
1916 Conscription begins in Great Britain as the Military Service Act becomes effective.
1922 The U.S. Congress establishes the World War Foreign Debt Commission.
1946 Stalin announces the new five-year plan for the Soviet Union, calling for production boosts of 50 percent.
1950 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy launches his anti-communist campaign
1953 The French destroy six Viet Minh war factories hidden in the jungles of Vietnam.
1959 The world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile becomes operational in the USSR
1961 President Kennedy asked Congress to approve a health insurance program ( the Medicare Program ) for 14.2 million Americans 65 or older, financed by an increase in Social Security taxes.
1978 Canada expels 11 Soviets in spying case.
1991 Lithuanians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.
1994 Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa.
1996 The legendary Russian Chess Grandmaster Kasparov loses his first chess game ever to IBM’s chess computer Deep Blue. He did go on to gain three wins and two draws and easily wins the match.
2001 An American submarine (USS Greenville) accidentally struck a Japanese fishing boat and nine lives were lost. This event took place off the coast of Hawaii in Pearl Harbor.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
