February 7th
Today in America's Present Past
1795 | The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
1804 | Entrepreneur John Deere was born.
1817 | Baltimore, Maryland, becomes the first U.S. city lit by gas street lamps.
1818 | First U.S. educational magazine begins publication, the “Academician.”
1862 | Civil War: Union forces liberate Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
1867 | Author Laura Ingalls Wilder was born.
1882 | Greenwood, New York Insurrection of 1882.
1882 | Boxer John L. Sullivan knocks out Paddy Ryan.
1894 | The Cripple Creek Miner’s strike begins.
1885 | Novelist Sinclair Lewis is born.
1904 | The “Great Baltimore” fire starts, destroying 1,500 buildings.
1907 | Civil Rights: The “Mud March,” the nation’s first large-scale march in support of women’s suffrage.
1919 | Medal of Honor recipient William Halford died.
1931 | Amelia Earhart weds George Palmer Putnam.
1937 | Statesman Elihu Root died.
1938 | Entrepreneur Harvey S. Firestone died.
1943 | WWII: Domestic shoe rationing begins to support the war effort.
1945 | WWII: U.S. forces cross the Sauer River, pushing back German forces.
1948 | Omar Bradley succeeds Dwight D. Eisenhower as U.S. Army Chief of Staff.
1962 | POTUS: Democrat President John F. Kennedy begins the blockade of Cuba.
1962 | Musician Garth Brooks was born.
1965 | Vietnam War: The U.S. begins regular bombing and strafing of North Vietnam.
1965 | Comedian Chris Rock was born.
1973 | POTUS: The U.S. Senate creates a committee on “Presidential Campaign Activities” as the Watergate scandal unfolds.
1978 | Actor Ashton Kutcher was born.
1983 | Civil Rights: Elizabeth Dole is sworn in as the first female Transportation Secretary.
1991 | Journalist John Steinbeck, IV died.
2001 | Author Anne Morrow Lindbergh died.
2020 | Painter James McGarrell died.