February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 320 days remaining, 321 in
leap years.
- 1014 - Pope Benedict VIII recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany
- 1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic
- 1743 - Henry Pelham becomes Prime Minister of England
- 1778 - James Cook is killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands
- 1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of Congress which conflicts with the Constitution is void
- 1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
- 1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
- 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone.
- 1895 - First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnest (St. James' Theatre in London).
- 1899 - Voting machines[?] are approved by the United States Congress for use in federal elections.
- 1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
- 1900 - Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State
- 1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Labor).
- 1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
- 1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
- 1918 - The movie Tarzan of the Apes[?] is released.
- 1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar)
- 1920 - The League of Women Voters[?] is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1924 - IBM corporation founded.
- 1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters rivalling Al Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1943 - World War II:Rostov[?], Russia is liberated.
- 1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass[?] - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war
- 1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
- 1945 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
- 1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.
- 1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania
- 1949 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
- 1952 - 1952 Winter Olympic Games open in Oslo, Norway
- 1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized (Berkely, California[?]).
- 1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
- 1979 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs[?] who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
- 1980 - 1980 Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York
- 1980 - Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from CBS Evening News.
- 1985 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin[?] is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
- 1989 - Union Carbide[?] agrees to pay $470,000,000 to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Tragedy.
- 1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini encourages Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
- 1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit.
- 1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.
- 1483 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul[?] dynasty (+ 1530)
- 1766 - Thomas Malthus, economist (+ 1834)
- 1819 - Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico (+ 1880)
- 1856 - Frank Harris, author and editor (+ 1931)
- 1869 - Charles Wilson[?], physicist
- 1890 - Nina Hamnett, artist (+ 1956)
- 1894 - Jack Benny, actor, comedian (+ 1974)
- 1895 - Max Horkheimer, philosopher and sociologist (+ 1973)
- 1898 - Fritz Zwicky[?], physicist and astronomer (+ 1974)
- 1905 - Thelma Ritter[?], actress (+ 1969)
- 1913 - Jimmy Hoffa, labor union leader (+ 1975 (disappeared))
- 1913 - Mel Allen[?], sports reporter (+ 1996)
- 1916 - Masaki Kobayashi, director
- 1917 - Herbert A. Hauptman[?], biophysicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1985
- 1921 - Hugh Downs[?], game show host, journalist
- 1929 - Vic Morrow[?], actor (+ 1982)
- 1932 - Alexander Kluge[?], actor and film director
- 1934 - Florence Henderson, actress
- 1943 - Maceo Parker, musician (P-Funk)
- 1944 - Alan Parker[?], director, writer
- 1944 - Carl Bernstein[?], journalist
- 1946 - Gregory Hines[?], dancer, actor
- 1948 - Teller[?], magician (Penn and Teller[?])
- 1970 - Simon Pegg, comedian, writer and actor
See Also:
February 13 - February 15 - January 14 - March 14 -- historical anniversaries
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December