1943: United States Defeats Japan at Guadalcanal
On February 9, 1943, the United States declared victory against Japan in the seven-month World War II campaign for Guadalcanal and nearby islands in...
1978: Aldo Moro Kidnapped by the Italian Red Brigades
On March 16, 1978, former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was kidnapped by a left-wing extremist group; he was killed 55 days later when...
1633: Galileo Faces Inquisition
On February 13, 1633, Galileo arrived in Rome to be tried for promoting Copernican theories, such as the revolutionary idea that the Earth orbits...
1872: Susan B. Anthony Votes in Presidential Election
On Nov. 5, 1872, 48 years before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony and a...
1952: British WWII Code Breaker Alan Turing Goes on Trial for Homosexuality
On March 31, 1952, Alan Turing, computer technology pioneer and breaker of the Nazi Enigma code, was put on trial for homosexual acts. Found...
1820: The “Mayflower of Liberia” Sets Sail
On February 6, 1820, a ship of freed black slaves set sail from New York for the coast of West Africa, where they would...
1964: The Beatles Arrive in New York
On February 7, 1964, the Beatles were greeted by thousands of screaming fans as they landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York...
1983: Reagan Delivers “Star Wars” Speech
On March 23, 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space and ground-based defense system to intercept...
1974: Russian Dissident Writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn Charged With Treason
On February 14, 1974, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer who revealed the horrors of the Soviet gulag, was charged with treason a day after...
1974: Heiress Patty Hearst Kidnapped
On February 4, 1974, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst, 19, granddaughter of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. After months of...
