February 9
February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
325 days remaining, 326 in leap years.
Events
* 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope
* 1775 - American Revolutionary War: English Parliament declares
Massachusetts in rebellion
* 1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral
votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy
Adams President of the United States.
* 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional
President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate
convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
* 1885 - The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.
* 1889 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is
established as a Cabinet-level agency.
* 1895 - W.G. Morgan invents volleyball.
* 1900 - Davis Cup competition is established
* 1942 - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their
first formal meeting to discus American military strategy in the war.
* 1942 - Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
* 1950 - Red scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States
State Department of being filled with Communists.
* 1960 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame.
* 1964 - The Beatles make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show
* 1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to
South Vietnam
* 1971 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San
Fernando Valley area of California.
* 1971 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become
voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
* 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third maned
moon landing.
* 1975 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
* 1991 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence
* 1994 - Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina announced (so called
Vance-Owen peace plan)
* 1997 - The Simpsons surpasses the The Flintstones as the
longest-running prime-time animated series.
* 2001 - American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and
sinks Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru.
Births
* 1409 - Constantine XI, last Byzantine Emperor
* 1769 - Susette Gontard, girl-friend of poet Friedrich Hšlderlin (+
1802)
* 1773 - William Henry Harrison, President of the United States (+ 1841)
* 1830 - Abd-ul-Aziz, future Ottoman sultan
* 1834 - Felix Dahn, author (+ 1912)
* 1846 - Wilhelm Maybach, designer of engines and cars, industrialist (+
1929)
* 1874 - Amy Lowell, poet (+ 1925)
* 1885 - Alban Berg, composer (+ 1935)
* 1885 - Anita Ree, painter (+ 1933))
* 1891 - Ronald Colman, actor (+ 1958)
* 1909 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (+ 1994)
* 1909 - Carmen Miranda, actress, singer (+ 195)
* 1910 - Jacques Monod, biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine in 1965 (+ 1976)
* 1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee, actress, ecdesiast (+ 1970)
* 1914 - Ernest Tubb, country music singer
* 1922 - Kathryn Grayson, actress
* 1923 - Brendan Behan, author (+ 1964)
* 1928 - Frank Frazetta, illustrator
* 1928 - Roger Mudd, journalist
* 1932 - Gerhard Richter, painter and graphic artist
* 1942 - Carole King, singer, composer
* 1943 - Joe Pesci, actor
* 1944 - Alice Walker, writer
* 1945 - Mia Farrow, actress
* 1963 - Travis Tritt, country music singer
* 1966 - Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
* 1977 - Shakira, Colombian pop singer
* 1979 - Mena Suvari, actress
* 1981 - Zhang Ziyi, actress
* 1981 - John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban
Deaths
* 1881 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author
* 1906 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet
* 1951 - Eddy Duchin, musician
* 1957 - Miklos Horthy, Hungarian admiral and longtime Regent
* 1969 - Gabby Hayes, actor
* 1976 - Percy Faith, musician, composer
* 1981 - Bill Haley, musician ("Bill Haley and the Comets")
* 1984 - Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union
* 2002 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom
