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What happened in history on this day: February 15?
On February 15 in ...
- 1799 - First US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania.
- 1804 - New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery.
- 1814 - President James Madison appoints Adam Eckfelt as chief coiner.
- 1842 - First adhesive postage stamps in US (private delivery company), New York City, New York.
- 1851 - Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave.
- 1862 - 8-10,000 Confederate troops attack Union soldiers outside Fort Donelson, but Brigidier General Charles Smith and Brigidier General Lew Wallace gain ground on Fort Donelson's outer defence line.
- 1865 - USA army begins shelling Columbia, South Carolina.
- 1869 - Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.
- 1870 - Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth, Minnesota.
- 1879 - US Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before the Supreme Court.
- 1898 - (9:40 PM) A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 266 of the 355 American crew members.
- 1903 - First Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris and Rose Michtom.
- 1906 - The Denver Mint strikes its first coin, the quarter dollar.
- 1913 - First avant-garde art show in America opens in New York City, New York.
- 1918 - US army troop ship torpedoed and sunk by Germany, off Ireland.
- 1926 - Contract air mail service begins in US.
- 1933 - Anton J Cermak (Mayor-Democrat-Chicago), assassinated in Miami, Florida.
- 1933 - US President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survives assassination attempt.
- 1936 - -60 degrees F (-51 degrees C) in Parshall, North Dakota (state record).
- 1950 - RKO Radio Pictures releases Disney's animated feature film Cinderella to theaters in the USA.
- 1954 - First bevatron in operation-Berkeley, California, USA.
- 1956 - Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Athletics cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham, Alabama, because of local ordinance barring blacks from playing against whites.
- 1961 - Entire US figure skating team of 18 dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash.
- 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1978 - Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy is recaptured, in Pensacola, Florida.
- 1988 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1990 - IBM unveils its new RISC-based workstation line, the RS/6000. Development work had been done under code name "America" for the RISC chip research, and "RIOS" for systems using the America technology. The architecture of the systems is given the name POWER, standing for Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC.
- 1992 - Jeffrey Dahmer found by court to be sane and guilty of killing 15 boys.
- 1992 - The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation opens the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, with financing from Malaysian billionaire Lim Goh Tong.
- 1994 - US asks Aristide to adopt a peace plan from Haiti.
- 1995 - Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computers systems.
- 2007 - In Ohio, USA, a meteor streaks across the sky, creating a sonic boom.
- 2008 - In New York, Wal-Mart Stores announces it will exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-Ray format. Sales of HD DVD systems and drives will be phased out until June.
- 2008 - Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, Illinois, declares missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett legally dead, five months after the airplane he was flying disappeared over Nevada.
- 2010 - Norwegian fertilizer-maker Yara agrees to buy American firm Terra for US$4.1 billion, extending Yara's lead as world's biggest maker of nitrogen-based fertilizer.
Births on February 15
- 1812 - Birth of Charles Lewis Tiffany in Killingly, Connecticut, USA; jeweler (Tiffany).
- 1819 - Birth of Christopher Sholes in Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, USA; inventor (typewriter).
- 1820 - Birth of Susan Brownell Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts, USA; women's suffragette (dies 1906).
- 1858 - Birth of William Pickering in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; astronomer (9th and 10th moons of Saturn).
- 1882 - Birth of John Barrymore [Blythe] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Tempest, Beloved Rogue).
- 1892 - Birth of James Forrestal; American banker/minister of Navy.
- 1897 - Birth of Earl H Blaik in Detroit, Michigan, USA; college football hall of fame coach (elected 1965).
- 1899 - Birth of Gale Sondergard in Litchfield, Minnesota, USA; actress (Cat and Canary, Road to Rio).
- 1907 - Birth of Cesar Romero in New York City, New York; actor (Joker - Batman, Ocean's 11, The Thin Man).
- 1914 - Birth of Kevin McCarthy in Seattle, Washington, USA; actor (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Howling).
- 1916 - Birth of Ian Keith Ballantine in New York City, New York, USA; publisher (Ballantine Books).
- 1918 - Birth of Alan Arbus in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Dr Sidney Freedman - M*A*S*H).
- 1922 - Birth of Herman Kahn in New Jersey, USA; writer (Thinking About the Unthinkable).
- 1923 - Birth of Keene Curtis in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; actor (The Magician, Amanda's).
- 1927 - Birth of Harvey Korman in Chicago, Illinois; actor (Carol Burnett Show, Blazing Saddles).
- 1930 - Birth of C F Payne in Cleveland, Ohio, USA; British chief constable.
- 1935 - Birth of Roger B Chaffee in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; Lieutenant Commander US Navy/astronaut.
- 1935 - Birth of Susan Brownmiller in Brooklyn, New York, USA; feminist author (Against Our Wills).
- 1945 - Birth of Douglas R Hofstadter in New York City, New York, USA; author (Gödel, Escher, Bach).
- 1947 - Birth of John Adams in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; composer (Nixon on China).
- 1947 - Birth of Marisa Berenson in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Barry Lyndon, Death in Vienna, SOB).
- 1947 - Birth of Rusty Hamer in Tenafly, New Jersey, USA; actor (Rusty - Make Room for Daddy).
- 1948 - Birth of Ron "The Penguin" Cey in Tacoma, Washington, USA; third baseman (Los Angeles Dodgers).
- 1949 - Birth of Jess Walton in Michigan, USA; actress (Jill Foster Abbott - The Young and the Restless).
- 1951 - Birth of Melissa Manchester in the Bronx, New York, USA; singer ("Don't Cry Out Loud").
- 1955 - Birth of Janice Dickinson in Brooklyn, New York, USA; model (Vogue).
- 1960 - Birth of Jeanne Goldsmith in Los Angeles, California, USA; WPVA volleyball player (National-5th-1987).
- 1962 - Birth of [Babette] Renee Props in Oklahoma, USA; actress (Ellie - As the World Turns, Get Shorty, Weird Science).
- 1968 - Birth of Kurt Robin McKinney in Louisville, Kentucky, USA; actor (Ned - General Hospital).
- 1968 - Birth of Michael Easton in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Tanner - Days of Our Lives).
- 1969 - Birth of Brian Williams in Lancaster, South Carolina, USA; pitcher (Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros).
- 1970 - Birth of Nathaniel Mills in Evanston, Illinois, USA; speed skater (Olympics-1994).
- 1971 - Birth of Jim Butler in Iowa City, Iowa, USA; table tennis player (Olympics-1992, 1996).
- 1974 - Birth of Erik Schulz in Port Huron, Michigan, USA; pairs skater (and Ilana Goldfogel).
- 1983 - Birth of Ashley Lyn Cafagna in Iowa City, Iowa; actress (Kimberly - The Bold and the Beautiful, Saved By The Bell: The New Class).
Deaths on February 15
- 1820 - William Ellery, US attorney (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at age 92.
- 1905 - Lewis Wallace, US diplomat/writer (Ben Hur), dies at age 77.
- 1933 - Anton J Cermak (Mayor-Democrat-Chicago), assassinated in Miami, Florida.
- 1967 - William C Bullitt, first US ambassador in USSR, dies at age 76.
- 1978 - Death of Ilka Chase at age 77, American actress (Masquerade Party, Trials of O'Brien) (born 1900).
- 1984 - Death of Ethel Merman AKA Ethel Zimmerman in her sleep following brain cancer surgery at age 75; American singer, actress (Hollywood Palace TV show, Toast of the Town TV show, Shower of Stars TV show, Batman, Tarzan, and The Love Boat, Tony Award).
- 1984 - Leamon Hunt, US director-General in Sinai, killed by communists.
- 1987 - Death of Jimmy Holiday at age 42; US singer ("Baby I Love You").
- 1988 - Richard P Feynman, American physicist (Nobel Prize 1965, Physical Law), dies at age 69 (born 1918).
- 1992 - William H Schuman, US composer (Pulitzer)/President of Julliard, dies at age 81.
- 1994 - Tiger Haynes, US actor (Moscow on the Hudson, Cosby Show), dies at age 79.
- 1996 - Death of McLean Stevenson at age 66 of a heart attack; actor (Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake M*A*S*H TV show, The McLean Stevenson Show, Hello Larry, The Tim Conway Comedy Hour, The Doris Day Show, Condo, In the Beginning).
- 1999 - Death of Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926).
- 2023 - Death of Raquel Welch AKA Jo-Raquel Tejada at age 82 at home in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (One Million Years B.C. movie (1967), The Three Musketeers movie (1974, Golden Globe winner), Legally Blonde movie (2001), Fantastic Voyage movie (1966)).
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