February 8
February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 326 days remaining, 327 in leap years .
Events
421 - Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
1555 - Laurence Saunders was led barefoot to his execution and burned at the stake .
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots is executed.
1601 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , rebels against Elizabeth I of England - revolt is quickly crushed
1622 - King James I of England disbands the English Parliament
1692 - A doctor in Salem Village , Massachusetts Bay Colony declares that three teenaged girls are under domination of Satan , leading to the Salem witch trials .
1693 - The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a charter.
1807 - Battle of Eylau - Napoleon defeats Russians under General Benigssen.
1837 - Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate .
1855 - The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon .
1861 - American Civil War : The Confederate States of America are formed. Jefferson Davis is selected as first president.
1867 - The Ausgleich Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary ,
1887 - The Dawes Act authorized the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.1900 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith , South Africa .
1904 - Battle of Port Arthur : A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur , China started the Russo-Japanese War .
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce .
1915 - The controversial film The Birth of a Nation D.W. Griffith premieres in Los Angeles .
1918 - The Stars and Stripes newspaper publishes for the first time.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House .
1924 - Death penalty : The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada .
1936 - Jay Berwanger becomes the first person to be selected by a National Football League draft, by the Philadelphia Eagles .
1943 - World War II : Battle of Kursk - the Russian army captures the city
1943 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
1949 - Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary sentenced for treason .
1960 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an Order-in-Council , stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor , and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor ".
1963 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
1968 - American civil rights movement : A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken-up by highway patrolmen leading to the deaths of three college students. (Orangeburg Massacre )
1969 - The last weekly issue of the Saturday Evening Post magazine stands.
1971 - A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts.
1974 - After 84 days in space , the crew of the temporary American space station Skylab return to Earth .
1974 - Military coup in Upper Volta .
1978 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcasted on radio for the first time.
1979 - Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the People?s Republic of the Congo for the first time.
1984 - 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo .
1985 - After 6-1/2 years, the television series The Dukes of Hazzard goes off the air.
1989 - An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain in Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal killing 144.
1993 - General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC 1996 - The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act .
2001 - Disney's California Adventure , the Disneyland Resort's second park in its 46-year history, opens.
2002 - Opening ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games .
2005 - Israel and Palestinians agree to cease-fire.
Births
412 - Proclus , Neoplatonic philosopher
1290 - King Afonso IV of Portugal (d. 1357 )
1577 - Robert Burton , English cleric, writer (d. 1640 )
1807 - Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins , sculptor and naturalist (d. 1889 )
1820 - William Tecumseh Sherman , soldier (d. 1891 )
1828 - Jules Verne , author (d. 1905 )
1851 - Kate Chopin , author (d. 1904 )
1878 - Martin Buber , philosopher (d. 1965 )
1880 - Franz Marc , painter and graphic artist, co-founder of Blauer Reiter (d. 1916 )
1882 - Burt Mustin , American actor ( d. 1977 )
1886 - Charles Ruggles , actor (d. 1970 )
1894 - Ludwig Marcuse , author and philosopher (d. 1971 )
1895 - King Vidor , director (d. 1982 )
1902 - Lyle Talbot , actor (d. 1996 )
1906 - Chester Carlson , American physicist, inventor (d. 1968 )
1908 - Emil Staiger , scientist of literature (d. 1987 )
1911 - Elizabeth Bishop , poet, Pulitzer Prize winner (d. 1979 )
1911 - Big Joe Turner , blues singer (d. 1985 )
1918 - Fred Blassie , former professional wrestler (d. 2003 )
1920 - Lana Turner , actress (d. 1995 )
1925 - Jack Lemmon , actor and film director (d. 2001 )
1926 - Neal Cassady , writer (d. 1968 )
1926 - Audrey Meadows , American actress (d. 1996 )
1930 - Alejandro Rey , Argentine actor (d. 1987 )
1931 - James Dean , actor (d. 1955 )
1932 - John Williams , composer, conductor
1933 - Jack Larson , American actor
1937 - Manfred Krug , actor
1940 - Ted Koppel , journalist
1941 - Nick Nolte , actor
1942 - Robert Klein , stand-up comedian
1942 - Terry Melcher , American musician, record producer (d. 2004 )
1953 - Mary Steenburgen , actress
1955 - John Grisham , novelist
1961 - Vince Neil , American musician
1968 - Gary Coleman , actor
1972 - Paul Wight , professional wrestler
1974 - Seth Green , actor
1977 - Yucef Merhi , artist
1977 - Dave Farrell , Ameican musician (Linkin Park )
1983 - Jim Verraros , American Idol singer
Deaths
1250 - William II Longespee (b. ca. 1207 )
1265 - Hulagu Khan , Mongol ruler (b. 1217 )
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542 )
1725 - Tsar Peter I of Russia (b. 1672 )
1768 - George Dance the Elder , architect (b. 1695 )
1849 - France Prešeren , Slovenian poet (b. 1800 )
1921 - Peter Kropotkin , Russian anarchist (b. 1842 )
1929 - Maria Christina , Queen Regent of Spain (b. 1858 )
1956 - Connie Mack , baseball executive, manager (b. 1862 )
1957 - John von Neumann , mathematician, quantum physicist (b. 1903 )
1960 - Sir Giles Gilbert Scott , architect (b. 1880 )
1973 - Max Yasgur , Woodstock Festival host
1977 - Eivind Groven , Norwegian composer and ethnomusicologist (b. 1901 ).
1985 - Sir William Lyons , founder of Jaguar Motors
1987 - Harriet MacGibbon , American actress
1990 - Del Shannon , entertainer (suicide ) (b. 1934 )
1994 - Raymond Scott , American actor, inventor
1998 - Halldór Laxness , author (b. 1902 )
1998 - Julian Simon , economist, author (b. 1932 )
1999 - Iris Murdoch , author (b. 1919 )
2000 - Sid Abel , Canadian ice hockey player, coach
2000 - Derrick Thomas , American football player
2001 - Ivo Caprino , Norwegian animated film director
2002 - Joachim Hoffmann , German historian
2004 - Julius Schwartz , comic book and science fiction editor
Holidays and observances
External links
February 7 - February 9 - January 8 - March 8 -- listing of all days
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