Historical Events and Current Affairs on February 29

1504: Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
1692: Sarah Good & Tituba, an Indian servant, accused of witchcraft, Salem
1695: English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption
1704: French & Indians attack Deerfield, Mass, kill 50, abduct 100
1720: Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns
1784: Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille
1796: Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England
1816: Dutch (King) Willem II marries Russian grand-duchess Anna Paulowna
1832: Charles Darwin visits jungle near Bahia Brazil
1836: Giacomo Meyerbeers opera "Les Huguenots," premieres in Paris
1848: Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland
1856: Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease
1868: 1st British govt of Disraeli forms
1880: Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy completed
1892: Britian & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea
1904: Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7 man committee to study Panama Canal
1908: Dutch scientists produce solid helium
1932: Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland
1936: FDR signs 2nd neutrality act
1940: "Gone with the Wind," wins 8 Oscars
1940: 45 U boats sunk this month (170,000 ton)
1940: Frederic from G & S "Pirates of Penzance" finally released by pirate
1940: Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st black woman to win an Oscar
1944: 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death
1944: US troop land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands
1948: Stern-group bomb Cairo-Haifa train, 27 British soldiers died
1952: Ice Dance Championship at Paris France won by Westwood & Demmy GRB
1952: Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Ria Falk & Paul Falk of GER
1952: Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Jacqueline du Bief of FRA
1952: Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Richard Button USA
1956: Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan
1956: Pres Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term
1960: 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago
1960: Earthquake kills 1/3 of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 sec
1960: JFK makes "missile gap" the presidential campaign issue
1960: KRET TV channel 23 in Richardson, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964: "Rugantino" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 28 performances
1964: Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 m
1964: LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter
1964: NC high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime
1968: 1st pulsar announced (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge)
1968: against racism & demands aid given to blacks
1968: Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" wins Grammy
1968: Howard Hanson's 6th Symphony, premieres
1968: National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Comm) reports
1968: US end regular flights with nuclear bombs
1968: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972: charges were dropped for $400,000 contribution to Republican Party
1972: Hank Aaron becomes 1st baseball player to sign for $200,000 a year
1972: Jack Anderson discloses Dita Beard (ITT) memo indicating antitrust
1980: Gordie Howe becomes 1st NHL player to score 800 career goals
1980: Michael Bracey ends 59 h 55 m trapped in an elevator, England
1984: Canadian PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he is stepping down
1988: KWK-FM in St Louis Missouri changes call letters to WKBG
1988: Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WW II deportations
1988: NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs
1992: Professional Spring Football League begins
1996: Soyuz TM-23, lands

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