Today February 29th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
1704 – Queen Anne s War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
1720 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails – plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
1932 – TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William Alfalfa Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
1936 – Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
1940 – For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden s Consul General in San Francisco.
1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
1952 – The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
1956 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
1960 – An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
1960 – Family Circus makes its debut.
1964 – In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
1972 – Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
1980 – Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
1984 – Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
1996 – A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
Births
1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
1692 – John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763)
1724 – Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick (d. 1822)
1736 – Ann Lee, American founder of Quakers (d. 1784)
1792 – Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
1812 – Sir James Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1880)
1840 – John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
1852 – Frank Gavan Duffy, Australian judge (d. 1936)
1860 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)
1896 – Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
1896 – William A. Wellman, American film director (d. 1975)
1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)
1904 – Pepper Martin, baseball player (d. 1965)
1904 – Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra (d. 1986)
1908 – Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)
1908 – Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)
1908 – Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)
1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
1920 – Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
1920 – James Mitchell, American actor
1920 – Michèle Morgan, French actress
1920 – Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
1920 – Ivan Petrov, Russian operatic bass (d. 2003)
1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player
1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand Governor-General (d. 2001)
1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador
1928 – Joss Ackland, English actor
1928 – Terry Lewis, Australian police commissioner
1928 – Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer
1932 – Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
1932 – Gene Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)
1932 – Masten Gregory, American F1 Driver (d. 1985)
1932 – Reri Grist, African-American coloratura soprano
1936 – Jack Lousma, American astronaut
1936 – Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player
1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor
1940 – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
1940 – William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer
1944 – Phyllis Frelich, American actress
1944 – Dennis Farina, American actor
1944 – Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator
1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian politician
1948 – Jiro Akagawa, Japanese novelist
1952 – Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television personality
1952 – Tim Powers, American writer
1952 – Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
1952 – Bart Stupak, American congressman
1956 – Jonathan Coleman, Anglo-Australian entertainer
1956 – Bob Speller, Canadian politician
1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
1956 – J. Randy Taraborrelli, American celebrity journalist
1956 – Jerry Fry, Baseball player
1960 – Ian McKenzie Anderson, British musician
1960 – Khaled, Algerian raï musician
1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer
1960 – Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker
1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player and Boston radio personality
1964 – Jahred Shane, Afro-Brazilian rapper/singer of Hed PE
1968 – Suanne Braun, South African actress
1968 – Chucky Brown, American basketball player
1968 – Pete Fenson, American curler
1968 – Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress
1968 – Gonzalo Lira, Chilean-American novelist
1968 – Bryce Paup, American football player
1968 – Wendi Peters, British actress
1968 – Eugene Volokh, American law professor
1968 – Frank Woodley, Australian comedian
1972 – Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-born actor
1972 – Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (d. 2002)
1972 – Saul Williams, American rapper, poet, and actor
1972 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American Real World housemate and AIDS activist (d. 1994)
1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
1976 – Emma Barton, English actress
1976 – Terrence Long, American baseball player
1980 – Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Taylor Twellman, American soccer player
1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league footballer
1980 – Chris Conley, American musician
1980 – Ruben Plaza, Spanish cyclist
1984 – Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Darren Ambrose, English footballer
1984 – Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
1984 – Cullen Jones, American swimmer
1988 – Scott Golbourne, English footballer
Deaths
1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (b. 1504)
1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)
1604 – John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)
1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French philosopher (b. 1683)
1820 – Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)
1868 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
1880 – Sir James Wilson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1812, also on 29 February)
1908 – Pat Garrett, U.S. gunslinger
1908 – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, first Governor-General of Australia (as Lord Hopetoun)
1928 – Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)
1940 – Edward Frederic Benson, English writer (b. 1867)
1944 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)
1956 – Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
1964 – Frank Albertson, American actor (b. 1909)
1968 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
1980 – Gil Elvgren, American artist (b. 1914)
1992 – Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)
1992 – Earl Scheib, American car repainter (b. 1908)
1996 – Shams Pahlavi, Persian princess (b. 1917)
2000 – Dennis Danell, American artist (b. 1961)
2004 – Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)
2008 – Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
Holidays and observances
Bahá í Faith – Day 4 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) (in leap years only) – days in the Bahá í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
Discordianism – St. Tib s Day.
February 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
