February 8
Today in America's Present Past
1693 | William & Mary College was charted in Williamsburg, Virginia. King William III and Queen Mary II granted the royal charter, making it the second-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S.
1735 | First opera performance in the Americas conducted in Charleston, South Carolina. The opera was Flora; or, Hob in the Well, performed at the Courtroom in Charleston, South Carolina.
1820 | General William Tecumseh Sherman was born.
1837 | POTUS: Richard Johnson was the first vice president chosen by the U.S. Senate. Because no vice-presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes (largely due to controversy over his personal life), the election went to the Senate for the only time in history. They chose Johnson.
1850 | Indian Wars: Provo River massacre.
1855 | The Smithsonian “Castle” opens to the public for the first time in Washington, D.C.
1873 | General John White Geary died.
1876 | Indian Wars: The Great Sioux War starts. While skirmishes occurred earlier, the War Department officially ordered all Indians onto reservations on Jan 31; by Feb 8, the military operations to enforce this led to the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
1877 | Explorer Charles Wilkes died.
1882 | Aviator Thomas Selfridge was born.
1887 | Congress: Passage of the Dawes Act. This was a turning point for Native American sovereignty, as it authorized the federal government to break up tribal lands into individual allotments, leading to the U.S. gain of over 90 million acres.
1894 | Film director King Vidor was born.
1894 | Congress: Repeal of Reconstruction’s “Enforcement Act.” This repeal of Reconstruction-era laws effectively removed federal oversight of elections in the South, paving the way for the “Jim Crow” era and disenfranchisement of Black voters.
1910 | William D Boyce incorporates the Boy Scouts of America. W.D. Boyce incorporated the BSA on this day, inspired by the “Unknown Scout” who helped him through a London fog.
1911 | Poet Elizabeth Bishop was born.
1918 | “Stars & Stripes,” a US military publication, begins operations. The military newspaper was revived for the AEF (American Expeditionary Forces) in France during WWI.
1919 | Civil Rights: “Red Summer race riots” in Blakeley, Georgia.
1921 | Actress Lana Turner was born.
1924 | First coast-to-coast radio broadcast of a speech - General John Joseph Carty speech.
1924 | Outlaw Gee Jon was executed. He was executed in Nevada, marking the first time lethal gas was used as a method of capital punishment in the U.S.
1925 | Civil Rights: Marcus Garvey enters federal prison.
1925 | Actor Jack Lemmon was born.
1931 | Actor James Dean was born.
1932 | Outlaw Mad Dog Coll murdered.
1934 | The Export-Import Bank incorporates in Washington, D.C.
1936 | Civil Rights: First Native American Vice-President Charles Curtis died.
1941 | SCOTUS: Justice Willis Van Devanter died.
1941 | Actor Nick Nolte was born.
1944 | Civil Rights: Harry McAlpin started as the first African-American journalist accredited to the White House despite opposition from the White House Correspondents’ Association.
1955 | Author John Grisham was born.
1959 | Intelligence pioneer William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan died.
1960 | Congress: Opens an investigation into “payola” in the music industry.
1965 | Vietnam War: Democrat President Johnson deploys the first U.S. combat troops.
1968 | Civil Rights: Orangeburg Massacre at South Carolina State University. Highway Patrol officers opened fire on Black students protesting a segregated bowling alley, killing three and wounding 27.
1968 | Actor Gary Coleman was born.
1972 | American wrestler “Big Show” was born.
1974 | Writer and TV producer Seth Green was born.
1977 | Civil Rights: Publisher Larry Flynt sentenced on obscenity charges.
1978 | Congress: U.S. Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time. This was during the debate over the Panama Canal Treaties.
1995 | J. William Fulbright died.
1996 | POTUS: Democrat President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act massive piece of legislation into law. It was the first major overhaul of telecommunications law in over 60 years and included the “V-chip” requirement for televisions.
2007 | Model Anna Nicole Smith died.
2020 | Actor Robert Conrad died.
2023 | Musician Burt Bacharach died.