History of 19 February
1807 – Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. He was later tried and acquitted on charges of treason.
1846 – The formal transfer of government between Texas and the United States took place. Texas had officially become a state on December 29, 1845.
1856 – The tintype camera was patented by Professor Hamilton L. Smith.
1864 – The Knights of Pythias was founded in Washington, DC. A dozen members formed what became Lodge No. 1.
1878 – Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph).
1881 – Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
1922 – Ed Wynn became the first big-name, vaudeville talent to sign on as a radio talent.
1942 – U.S. President Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans.
1942 – The New York Yankees announced that they would admit 5,000 uniformed servicemen free to each of their home ball games during the coming season.
1942 – Approximately 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin.
1945 – During World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.
1949 – Bollingen Foundation and Yale University awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry ($5,000) to Ezra Pound.
1953 – The State of Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the U.S. Newspapers were excluded from the new legislation.
1959 – Cyprus was granted its independence with the signing of an agreement with Britain, Turkey, and Greece.
1963 – The Soviet Union informed U.S. President Kennedy it would withdraw “several thousand” of its troops in Cuba.
1981 – The U.S. State Department calls El Salvador a “textbook case” of a Communist plot.
1981 – Ford Motor Company announced its loss of $1.5 billion.
1985 – Mickey Mouse was welcomed to China as part of the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. The touring mouse played 30 cities in 30 days.
1985 – William Schroeder became the first artificial-heart patient to leave the confines of the hospital.
1985 – Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company.
1986 – The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification.
1986 – The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station.
1987 – A controversial, anti-smoking public service announcement aired for the first time on television. Yul Brynner filmed the ad shortly before dying of lung cancer. Brynner made it clear in the ad that he would have died from cigarette smoking before the ad aired.
1997 – Deng Xiaoping of China died at the age of 92. He was the last of China’s major revolutionaries.
1999 – Dennis Franz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2001 – The museum at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center was dedicated.
2002 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft began using its thermal emission imaging system to map Mars.
2004 – Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader’s collapse. Skilling was later convicted and sentenced to more than 24 years in prison.
2005 – The USS Jimmy Carter was commissioned at Groton, CT. It was the last of the Seawolf class of attack submarines.
2008 – Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency. His brother Raul was later named as his successor.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Beth Ditto, American singer
- 1983 – Kotoōshū Katsunori, Bulgarian sumo wrestler
- 1983 – Mika Nakashima, Japanese singer, and actress
- 1983 – Ryan Whitney, American ice hockey player
- 1984 – Chris Richardson, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Haylie Duff, American actress and singer
- 1986 – Kyle Chipchura, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Marta, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Maria Mena, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Michael Schwimer, American baseball player
- 1987 – Anna Cappellini, Italian ice dancer
- 1988 – Shawn Matthias, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Seth Morrison, American guitarist
- 1991 – Christoph Kramer, German national footballer
- 1991 – Trevor Bayne, American race car driver
- 1992 – Jelena Simić, a Bosnian tennis player
- 1993 – Mauro Icardi, the Argentinian footballer
- 1994 – Sam Lisone, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
- 1994 – Tiina Trutsi, Estonian footballer
- 1995 – Nikola Jokić, Serbian basketball player
- 1998 – Katharina Gerlach, a German tennis player
- 2001 – David Mazouz, American actor