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What happened in history on this day: February 20?
On February 20 in ...
- 1777 - Continental Congress committee on Treasury recommends a mint be established for coining money.
- 1792 - US postal service created; postage 6-12.5 cents, depending on distance.
- 1809 - US Supreme Court rules federal government power greater than any state.
- 1839 - US Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia.
- 1856 - Liverpool-New York steamer John Rutledge hits iceberg; many die.
- 1864 - Civil War Battle of Olustee, Florida.
- 1865 - M I T establishes first US collegiate architectural school.
- 1869 - Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis.
- 1872 - Metropolitan Museum of Art opens (New York City, New York).
- 1877 - First cantilever bridge in US is completed, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
- 1893 - An act of US Congress protects the Grand Canyon as a Forest Reserve.
- 1895 - US Congress changes designation of the Denver Assay Office to Denver Mint, with authority to strike gold and silver coins.
- 1899 - Illinois Tel and Tel granted franchise for Chicago freight tunnel system.
- 1901 - First US territorial legislature of Hawaii convenes.
- 1915 - (to December 4) The Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in San Francisco. The event is held to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, and the 400th anniversary of Vasco Nunez de Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean.
- 1927 - Golfers in South Carolina are arrested for violating Sabbath.
- 1929 - American Samoa organized as a territory of US.
- 1931 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge.
- 1933 - House of Representatives completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition.
- 1937 - First automobile/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica, California.
- 1942 - Lieutenant E H O'Hare single-handedly shoots down five Japanese heavy bombers.
- 1943 - Phil Wrigley and B Rickey charter All-American Girls Softball League.
- 1944 - US takes Eniwetok Island.
- 1947 - Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 42 blocks in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- 1949 - First International Pancake Race held (Liberal, Kansas, USA).
- 1953 - US Court of Appeals rules that Organized Baseball is a sport and not a business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling.
- 1962 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, NASA launches the Friendship 7 space craft on a Mercury-Atlas rocket, at 9:48AM, carrying US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel John Glenn. Glenn is the first American and third person to successfully orbit Earth. The craft makes three orbits in five hours, landing in the Atlantic Ocean at 2:43PM.
- 1965 - Ranger 8 makes hard landing on the Moon, returns photos, other data.
- 1967 - New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison holds a press conference announcing an investigation into New Orleans-based conspiracy behind the President John Kennedy assassination.
- 1971 - National Emergency Center erroneously orders US radio and TV stations to go off the air; the mistake isn't resolved for 30 minutes.
- 1978 - 4th People's Choice Awards: Star Wars, Carol Burnett, and Bob Hope.
- 1986 - International Harvester changes its company name to Navistar International Corp.
- 1987 - Bomb blamed on Unabomber explodes by computer store in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 1988 - Peter Kalikow purchases New York Post from Rupert Murdoch for US$37.6 million.
- 1998 - US movie box office hits quickest $1 billion for year (51 days).
- 2008 - In Wisconsin and Hawaii, Democratic caucuses Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton for Presidential candidate. John McCain wins Wisconsin on the Republican side.
- 2008 - A U.S. Navy warship neat Hawaii fires a missile at a defunct spy satellite 153 miles up in the atmosphere, to destroy the fuel tank of hydrazine fuel, to prevent it from being released as a toxic gas if it had fallen to Earth.
- 2009 - Spot gold hits a peak of US$1005.40, its highest since March 18, 2008.
- 2009 - Swedish carmaker Saab (a unit of American carmaker General Motors) files for protection from creditors while it tries to find a new partner and raise funds.
Births on February 20
- 1897 - Birth of Ivan Albright in Illinois, USA; painter (The Door, The Window).
- 1899 - Birth of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney in Long Island, New York, USA; railroad tycoon.
- 1907 - Birth of Malcolm Atterbury in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Jonas - Thicker than Water, Apples Way).
- 1907 - Birth of Nadine Conner in California, USA; soprano (Carmen, Pamina - Magic Flute).
- 1911 - Birth of Robert Guyn McBride in Tucson, Arizona, USA; composer ("Mexican Rhapsody").
- 1916 - Birth of Paul Tripp in New York City, New York, USA; TV host (Mr I Magination).
- 1921 - Birth of Joseph Albert Walker in Washington, Pennsylvania, USA; X-15 test pilot.
- 1925 - Birth of Robert Altman in Kansas City, Missouri, USA; director (Nashville, M*A*S*H).
- 1926 - Birth of Robert Eugene Richards in Champaign, Illinois, USA; pole vaulter (Olympics-gold-1948, 1952, 1956).
- 1927 - Birth of Sidney Poitier in Miami, Florida, USA; actor (Porgy and Bess movie, A Raisin in the Sun movie, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner movie, In the Heat of the Night movie, Lilies of the Field (1963, Best Actor Oscar award), To Sir With Love movie).
- 1929 - Birth of Amanda Blake [Beverly Louise Neill] in Buffalo, New York, USA; actress (Kitty Russell - Gunsmoke).
- 1930 - Birth of Patricia Smith in New Haven, Connecticut, USA; actress (Bob Newhart Show, Into Thin Air).
- 1936 - Birth of Larry Hovis in Wapito, Washington, USA; comedian (Gomer Pyle, Hogan's Heroes).
- 1936 - Birth of Marj Dusay [Mahoney] in Russell, Kansas, USA; actress (Kate - Bret Maverick, Alex - Guiding Light, Myrna - Capitol).
- 1937 - Birth of David Ackles in Illinois, USA; singer/songwriter (American Gothic).
- 1937 - Birth of Nancy Wilson in Chillicothe, Ohio, USA; jazz singer ("Feel Like Making Love").
- 1940 - Birth of Barbara Laine Ellis in Olympia, Washington, USA; singer (Fleetwoods).
- 1941 - Birth of Buffy Sainte-Marie in Maine, USA; folksinger ("Now That the Buffalo Are Gone").
- 1945 - Birth of Henry Polic II in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (When Things Were Rotten, Webster).
- 1946 - Birth of J[erome] Geils in New York City, New York, USA; rock guitarist/vocalist (J Geils Band - "Freeze-Frame", "Centerfold").
- 1946 - Birth of Sandy Duncan in Henderson, Texas, USA; actress (Hogan Family, Pinocchio, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?).
- 1947 - Birth of Peter Strauss in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA; actor (Rich Man Poor Man, Secret of NIMH, Space Hunter).
- 1950 - Birth of Walter Becker in New York City, New York, USA; rock bassist (Steely Dan - "Peg").
- 1951 - Birth of Edward Albert in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Jeff - Falcon Crest, Butterflies are Free).
- 1951 - Birth of Kathy Baillie in Morristown, New Jersey, USA; country vocalist (Baillie and the Boys - "Oh Heart").
- 1951 - Birth of Randy California [Wolfe] in Los Angeles, California, USA; guitarist (Spirit - "I Got a Line on You").
- 1952 - Birth of Catherine Cummins in Clintwood, Virginia, USA; first of five siblings born on February 20.
- 1953 - Birth of Carol Cummins in Clintwood, Virginia, USA; second of five siblings born on February 20.
- 1954 - Birth of Patty Hearst Shaw in San Francisco, California, USA; famous kidnap hostage (Tanya).
- 1956 - Birth of Charles Cummins in Clintwood, Virginia, USA; third of five siblings born on February 20.
- 1961 - Birth of Claudia Cummins in Clintwood, Virginia, USA; fourth of five siblings born on February 20.
- 1962 - Birth of Ria Coyne in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA; comedienne (Betsy - Batman Forever).
- 1963 - Birth of Charles Barkley in Leads, Alabama, USA; NBA forward (Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Olympics-gold-1996, All Star 1987-90).
- 1963 - Birth of William Baldwin in New York, USA; actor (Backdraft, Sliver, Flatliners).
- 1964 - Birth of French Stewart in New Mexico, USA; actor (Harry Solomon - Third Rock From the Sun).
- 1964 - Birth of Jeffrey Allan Maggert in Columbia, Missouri, USA; PGA golfer (1993 Walt Disney).
- 1966 - Birth of Cecilia Cummins in Clintwood, Virginia, USA, 5th of five siblings born on February 20.
- 1966 - Birth of Cindy Crawford in Dekalb, Illinois, USA; super model (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit).
- 1966 - Birth of Dennis Allen Mitchell in Cherry Point, North Carolina, USA; 100 metre/200 metre (Olympics-silver-1996).
- 1967 - Birth of Andrew Shue in South Orange, New Jersey, USA; actor (Billy - Melrose Place).
- 1967 - Birth of Kurt Knudsen; US baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers).
Deaths on February 20
- 1862 - Death of William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln at age 11 at the US White House in Washington, D.C., likely of typhoid fever from contaminated drinking water; son of US President Abraham Lincoln.
- 1895 - Frederick Douglass, escaped US slave, anti-slavery leader, dies at age 78.
- 1936 - John Hope, president of Atlanta University, dies at age 67.
- 1966 - Chester W Nimitz, US Admiral (WWII), dies at age 80.
- 1976 - Death of Louis Eliasberg, Senior; only person to complete, in 1950, a collection of all known Unites States coins by date and mint mark.
- 1980 - Death of Alice Longworth, Theodore Roosevelt's eldest daughter, wife of Nicholas Longworth, at age 96 in Washington, DC (born 1884).
- 1985 - Death of Clarence Nash of leukemia; voice actor (Disney's Donald Duck for over 50 years) (born 1904).
- 1992 - Dick York, American actor (Bewitched), dies of emphysema at age 63 (born 1928).
- 2009 - Death of William J. Jorden, former New York Times correspondent, American ambassador to Panama (1974-78), author (Panama Odyssey), at age 85, or lung cancer, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
- 2010 - Former U.S. secretary of state Alexander Haig dies at age 85 in Baltimore of complications from an infection.
- 2020 - Death of Claudette Nevins at age 82 at home in Los Angeles, California; actor (Melrose Place TV show).
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