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View Full Version : February 29th - This Date in History



WillDekkard
03-01-2010, 03:45 AM
Hear are some notable events that happened on This Date in History
- February 29th
c/p from Wikipedia
* 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
* 1704 – Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
* 1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
* 1720 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
* 1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails – plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
* 1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
* 1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
* 1932 – TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
* 1936 – Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
* 1940 – For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
* 1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
* 1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
* 1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
* 1952 – The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
* 1956 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
* 1960 – An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
* 1960 – Family Circus makes its debut.
* 1964 – In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
* 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
* 1972 – Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
* 1980 – Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
* 1984 – Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
* 1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
* 1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian House of Commons to come out as gay.
* 1996 – A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
* 2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
end of c/p