This Day in USA History
February 15

What happened in history on this day: February 15? On February 15 in ... 1814 - President James Madison appoints Adam Eckfelt as chief coiner. 1861 - Fort Point completed and garrisoned (but has never fired cannon in anger). 1862 - Grant's major assault on Fort Donelson, Tennessee. 1865 - Union army begins shelling Columbia, South Carolina. 1869 - Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped. 1898 - A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 260 of the American crew members. 1903 - First Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris and Rose Michtom. 1913 - First avant-garde art show in America opens in New York City, New York. 1918 - US army troop ship torpedoed and sunk by Germany, off Ireland. 1926 - Contract air mail service begins in US. 1933 - Anton J Cermak (Mayor-Democrat-Chicago), assassinated in Miami, Florida. 1933 - US President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survives assassination attempt. 1936 - -60 degrees F (-51 degrees C) in Parshall, North Dakota (state record). 1950 - RKO Radio Pictures releases Disney's animated feature film Cinderella to theaters in the USA. 1954 - First bevatron in operation-Berkeley, California, USA. 1956 - Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Athletics cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham, Alabama, because of local ordinance barring blacks from playing against whites. 1961 - Entire US figure skating team of 18 dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash. 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. 1978 - Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, in Pensacola, Florida. 1979 - 21st Grammy Awards: "Just the Way You Are", Taste of Honey win. 1988 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. 1990 - IBM unveils its new RISC-based workstation line, the RS/6000. Development work had been done under code name "America" for the RISC chip research, and "RIOS" for systems using the America technology. The architecture of the systems is given the name POWER, standing for Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC. 1992 - Jeffrey Dahmer found by court to be sane and guilty of killing 15 boys. 1992 - The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation opens the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, with financing from Malaysian billionaire Lim Goh Tong. 1994 - US asks Aristide to adopt a peace plan from Haiti. 1995 - Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computers systems. 2007 - The US Mint releases the George Washington Presidential dollar to circulation. 2007 - In Ohio, USA, a meteor streaks across the sky, creating a sonic boom. 2008 - In New York, Wal-Mart Stores announces it will exclusively sell high-definition DVDs in the Blu-Ray format. Sales of HD DVD systems and drives will be phased out until June. 2008 - Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, Illinois, declares missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett legally dead, five months after the airplane he was flying disappeared over Nevada. 2010 - Norwegian fertilizer-maker Yara agrees to buy American firm Terra for US$4.1 billion, extending Yara's lead as world's biggest maker of nitrogen-based fertilizer. 2011 - The US Mint launches the 2011 Sacagawea, Native American dollar in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Births on February 15 1820 - Birth of Susan Brownell Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts; women's suffragette. 1892 - Birth of James Forrestal; American banker/minister of Navy. 1899 - Birth of Gale Sondergard in Litchfield, Minnesota, USA; actress (Cat and Canary, Road to Rio). 1907 - Birth of Cesar Romero in New York City, New York; actor (Joker - Batman, Ocean's 11, The Thin Man). 1914 - Birth of Kevin McCarthy in Seattle, Washington, USA; actor (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Howling). 1916 - Birth of Ian Keith Ballantine in New York City, New York, USA; publisher (Ballantine Books). 1918 - Birth of Alan Arbus in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Dr Sidney Freedman - M*A*S*H). 1922 - Birth of Herman Kahn in New Jersey, USA; writer (Thinking About the Unthinkable). 1923 - Birth of Keene Curtis in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; actor (The Magician, Amanda's). 1927 - Birth of Harvey Korman in Chicago, Illinois; actor (Carol Burnett Show, Blazing Saddles). 1930 - Birth of C F Payne in Cleveland, Ohio, USA; British chief constable. 1935 - Birth of Roger B Chaffee in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; Lieutenant Commander US Navy/astronaut. 1935 - Birth of Susan Brownmiller in Brooklyn, New York, USA; feminist author (Against Our Wills). 1945 - Birth of Douglas R Hofstadter in New York City, New York, USA; author (Gödel, Escher, Bach). 1947 - Birth of John Adams in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; composer (Nixon on China). 1947 - Birth of Marisa Berenson in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Barry Lyndon, Death in Vienna, SOB). 1947 - Birth of Rusty Hamer in Tenafly, New Jersey, USA; actor (Rusty - Make Room for Daddy). 1948 - Birth of Ron "The Penguin" Cey in Tacoma, Washington, USA; third baseman (Los Angeles Dodgers). 1949 - Birth of Jess Walton in Michigan, USA; actress (Jill Foster Abbott - The Young and the Restless). 1951 - Birth of Melissa Manchester in the Bronx, New York, USA; singer ("Don't Cry Out Loud"). 1955 - Birth of Janice Dickinson in Brooklyn, New York, USA; model (Vogue). 1960 - Birth of Jeanne Goldsmith in Los Angeles, California, USA; WPVA volleyball player (National-5th-1987). 1962 - Birth of [Babette] Renee Props in Oklahoma, USA; actress (Ellie - As the World Turns, Get Shorty, Weird Science). 1968 - Birth of Kurt Robin McKinney in Louisville, Kentucky, USA; actor (Ned - General Hospital). 1968 - Birth of Michael Easton in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Tanner - Days of Our Lives). 1969 - Birth of Brian Williams in Lancaster, South Carolina, USA; pitcher (Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros). 1970 - Birth of Nathaniel Mills in Evanston, Illinois, USA; speed skater (Olympics-1994). 1971 - Birth of Jim Butler in Iowa City, Iowa, USA; table tennis player (Olympics-1992, 1996). 1974 - Birth of Erik Schulz in Port Huron, Michigan, USA; pairs skater (and Ilana Goldfogel). 1980 - Birth of Conor Oberst; American singer/songwriter. 1981 - Birth of Jenna Morasca; American television personality. 1981 - Birth of Olivia; American R&B singer. 1983 - Birth of Ashley Lyn Cafagna in Iowa City, Iowa; actress (Kimberly - The Bold and the Beautiful, Saved By The Bell: The New Class). 1984 - Birth of Josh Byrne, American actor. Deaths on February 15 1905 - Lewis Wallace, US diplomat/writer (Ben Hur), dies at age 77. 1933 - Anton J Cermak (Mayor-Democrat-Chicago), assassinated in Miami, Florida. 1967 - William C Bullitt, first US ambassador in USSR, dies at age 76. 1984 - Ethel Merman, American singer/actress (Kid Million), dies in her sleep at age 76 (born 1908). 1984 - Leamon Hunt, US director-General in Sinai, killed by communists. 1987 - Jimmy Holiday, US singer ("Baby I Love You"), dies at age 42. 1988 - Gardiner Means, US economist, dies at age 91. 1988 - Richard P Feynman, American physicist (Nobel Prize 1965, Physical Law), dies at age 69 (born 1918). 1991 - Gary Gears, Chicago disk jockey, dies at age 46 of a heart attack. 1992 - William H Schuman, US composer (Pulitzer)/President of Julliard, dies at age 81. 1994 - Tiger Haynes, US actor (Moscow on the Hudson, Cosby Show), dies at age 79. 1996 - McLean Stevenson, American actor (MASH, Hello Larry), dies at age 66 (born 1929). 1999 - Death of Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926). 1999 - Death of Big L, American rapper (born 1974). 2002 - Death of Howard K. Smith, American television journalist (born 1914).         Your Ad Here You can pick a particular day to view that day's events in history. Bookmark this URL:   http://thisdayinhistoryinfo.info/usa/   and revisit each day. (this URL will automatically re-direct to the file containing the current day's events) Or, visit my Timelines of History page. Other web pages of interest: Chronology of the United States of America Today in Disney History Today in Sports History Chronology of World War II Chronology of Personal Computers