February 9

February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
325 days remaining, 326 in leap years.

Events

   * 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
   * 1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope
   * 1775 - American Revolutionary War: English Parliament declares
     Massachusetts in rebellion
   * 1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral
     votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy
     Adams President of the United States.
   * 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional
     President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate
     convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
   * 1885 - The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.
   * 1889 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is
     established as a Cabinet-level agency.
   * 1895 - W.G. Morgan invents volleyball.
   * 1900 - Davis Cup competition is established
   * 1942 - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their
     first formal meeting to discus American military strategy in the war.
   * 1942 - Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
   * 1950 - Red scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States
     State Department of being filled with Communists.
   * 1960 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of
     Fame.
   * 1964 - The Beatles make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show
   * 1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to
     South Vietnam
   * 1971 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San
     Fernando Valley area of California.
   * 1971 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become
     voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
   * 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third maned
     moon landing.
   * 1975 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
   * 1991 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence
   * 1994 - Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina announced (so called
     Vance-Owen peace plan)
   * 1997 - The Simpsons surpasses the The Flintstones as the
     longest-running prime-time animated series.
   * 2001 - American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and
     sinks Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru.

Births

   * 1409 - Constantine XI, last Byzantine Emperor
   * 1769 - Susette Gontard, girl-friend of poet Friedrich Hšlderlin (+
     1802)
   * 1773 - William Henry Harrison, President of the United States (+ 1841)
   * 1830 - Abd-ul-Aziz, future Ottoman sultan
   * 1834 - Felix Dahn, author (+ 1912)
   * 1846 - Wilhelm Maybach, designer of engines and cars, industrialist (+
     1929)
   * 1874 - Amy Lowell, poet (+ 1925)
   * 1885 - Alban Berg, composer (+ 1935)
   * 1885 - Anita Ree, painter (+ 1933))
   * 1891 - Ronald Colman, actor (+ 1958)
   * 1909 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (+ 1994)
   * 1909 - Carmen Miranda, actress, singer (+ 195)
   * 1910 - Jacques Monod, biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology
     or Medicine in 1965 (+ 1976)
   * 1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee, actress, ecdesiast (+ 1970)
   * 1914 - Ernest Tubb, country music singer
   * 1922 - Kathryn Grayson, actress
   * 1923 - Brendan Behan, author (+ 1964)
   * 1928 - Frank Frazetta, illustrator
   * 1928 - Roger Mudd, journalist
   * 1932 - Gerhard Richter, painter and graphic artist
   * 1942 - Carole King, singer, composer
   * 1943 - Joe Pesci, actor
   * 1944 - Alice Walker, writer
   * 1945 - Mia Farrow, actress
   * 1963 - Travis Tritt, country music singer
   * 1966 - Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
   * 1977 - Shakira, Colombian pop singer
   * 1979 - Mena Suvari, actress
   * 1981 - Zhang Ziyi, actress
   * 1981 - John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban

Deaths

   * 1881 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author
   * 1906 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet
   * 1951 - Eddy Duchin, musician
   * 1957 - Miklos Horthy, Hungarian admiral and longtime Regent
   * 1969 - Gabby Hayes, actor
   * 1976 - Percy Faith, musician, composer
   * 1981 - Bill Haley, musician ("Bill Haley and the Comets")
   * 1984 - Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the
     Soviet Union
   * 2002 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom