Lost and Found – February 14th Edition

What to remember about February 14th…

• 278   Priest named Valentine is beaten to death and then beheaded for continuing to perform marriages despite Emperor Claudius II’s ban
• 1779  Outnumbered and divided Patriots surprise Georgia loyalists at Kettle Creek; Colonel Andrew Pickens and Colonel John Dooly lead them to 1st significant victory in the colony
• 1779  British Explorer James Cook is killed by native mob on Hawaiian Island of Kealakekua
• 1818  American Author, abolitionist, and former slave Frederick Douglas is born in Maryland (d. 1895)
• 1835  Joseph Smith’s Three Witnesses choose 12 men to be anointed as “apostles” creating the Quorum of Twelve of the Mormon church
• 1859  Oregon is admitted to the Union as 33rd state
• 1912  Arizona is admitted to the Union as 48th state
• 1920  League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois
• 1929  At headquarters of Chicago gangster “Bugs” Moran, 4 men dressed as police line up 7 employees against a wall and shoot them
• 1945  President Franklin Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud aboard USS Quincy to establish diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, secure weapons for oil agreement, and support for Jewish homeland in Palestine
• 1979  U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Dubs is kidnapped by muslim terrorists in Kabul; he is killed during rescue attempt
• 1989  Iranian Ayatola issues fatwa instructing muslims to murder British author Salman Rushdie for heresy and apostacy

Lost and Found – February 13th Edition

What to remember about February 13th…

• 1633  Italian astronomer and mathematician Gallileo Gallilei arrives in Rome to face the inquisition on charges of heresy
• 1861  Army surgeon Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin begins rescue mission that will earn him Medal of Honor; 1st military action for which the award will be given
• 1905  President Theodore Roosevelt gives speech announcing plan to improve race relations and civil rights; Wilson administration will reverse these and codify segregation in government and the military
• 1945  Dresden, Germany is destroyed when hundreds of British bombers drop thousands of incendiaries; thousands killed in massive firestorm
• 1960  France joins the nuclear fraternity with atmospheric detonation of their 1st atomic bomb in Algerian desert
• 1965  President Lyndon Johnson authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder; massive bombing campaign of Vietnam that will last for years
• 1970  Black Sabbath releases their debut album of the same name; 1st heavy metal album produced
• 2007  Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney announces candidacy for the 2008 presidential race
• 2008  Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens testifies before Congress and denies using performance enhancing drugs

Lost and Found – February 12th Edition

What to remember about February 12th…

• 1733  British general and MP James Oglethorpe founds Georgia as 13th English colony with Savannah as its 1st city
• 1789  American patriot Ethan Allen dies of stroke in Vermont (b. 1738); famous leader of Green Mountain Boys and victor of Fort Tigonderoga
• 1809  Future 16th President Abraham Lincoln is born in Hodgeville, Kentucky (d. 1865)
• 1909  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded
• 1924  In New York City, George Gershwin’s jazz classic Rhapsody in Blue is performed for the 1st time; billed as “experiment in modern music”
• 1935  Navy airship USS Macon crashes and sinks in bad weather off California coast just 2 years after the loss of sister ship USS Akron
• 1973  142 of the last 591 U.S. POW’s are released in Hanoi as required by Paris peace settlement talks
• 1999  Senate fails to impeach President Bill Clinton on either perjury or obstruction of justice charges; votes were 45 – 55 and 50 – 50
• 2000  American cartoonist and author of “Peanuts”, Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz dies (b. 1922)
• 2004  San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at the direction of Mayor Gavin Newsom

Lost and Found – February 11th Edition

What to remember about February 11th…

• 1812  Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry redistricts his state to favor his party; “gerrymandering” is born
• 1847  American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison is born in Milan, Ohio (d. 1931) – celebrated as National Inventor’s Day
• 1916  Anarchist, abortion proponent Emma Goldman is arrested for violating Comstock Act; mentor of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger
• 1942  2 German battleships and a heavy cruiser escape French port and British aircraft in “channel dash” to reach a safe port
• 1970  Japan becomes the world’s 4th “space power” with successful launch of satellite into orbit
• 1975  Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st woman to head a political party in England when she is elected to lead the Conservatives
• 1979  Iranian revolutionaries topple monarchy and parliament to establish theocratic Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khomeini
• 1990  South African civil rights activist Nelson Mandella is released after 27 years in prison
• 2006  Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots Texas attorney Harry Whittington and wounds him while they hunt quail together
• 2012  American singer and actress Whitney Houston dies in hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills (b. 1963)
• 2013  Pope Benedict XVI resigns suddenly; 78-year old former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is 1st Pontiff to resign since 1415