History of the Day for:
February 29
- 468: St Hilary ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
- 1504: Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians.
- 1692: Sarah Good & Tituba, an Indian servant, accused of witchcraft, Salem.
- 1696: English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption.
- 1704: French & Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 50, abduct 100.
- 1720: Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns.
- 1784: Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.
- 1796: Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England.
- 1816: Dutch (King) Willem II marries Russian grand-duchess Anna Paulowna.
- 1832: Charles Darwin visits jungle near Bahia Brazil.
- 1836: Giacomo Meyerbeer's (Jakob Liebmann Beer) opera "Les Huguenots" premieres in Paris (Théâtre de l'Opéra, Paris).
- 1848: Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland.
- 1856: Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease.
- 1868: 1st British government of Disraeli forms.
- 1880: Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy opens.
- 1892: Britain & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea.
- 1904: Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7 man committee to study Panama Canal.
- 1908: Dutch scientists produce solid helium.
- 1932: Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland.
- 1936: FDR signs 2nd Neutrality Act.
- 1940: Frederic from G & S "Pirates of Penzance" finally released by pirat.
- 1940: "Gone with the Wind" wins 8 Oscars.
- 1940: 45 U-boats sunk this month (170,000 tons).
- 1940: Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st black woman to win an Oscar.
- 1944: 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death.
- 1944: US troop land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands.
- 1948: Stern-group bomb Cairo-Haifa train, 27 British soldiers died.
- 1952: Dick Button wins his 5th consecutive world figure skating title.
- 1952: Ice Dance Championship at Paris France won by Westwood & Demmy Great Britain.
- 1952: Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Ria Falk & Paul Falk of Germany.
- 1952: Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Jacqueline du Bief of France.
- 1952: Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Richard Button USA.
- 1956: Islamic Republic established in Pakistan.
- 1956: President Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term.
- 1960: 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago.
- 1960: Earthquake kills 1/3 of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 seconds.
- 1960: JFK makes "missile gap" the Presidential campaign issue.
- 1960: KRET TV channel 23 in Richardson TX (PBS) begins broadcasting.
- 1964: Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 meters.
- 1964: LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter.
- 1964: North Carolina high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime.
- 1964: "Rugantino" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 28 performances.
- 1968: 1st pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge).
- 1968: Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" wins Grammy.
- 1968: National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) reports against racism & demands aid given to blacks.
- 1968: Howard Hanson's 6th Symphony, premieres.
- 1968: US end regular flights with nuclear bombs.
- 1968: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1972: Hank Aaron becomes 1st baseball player to sign for $200,000 a year.
- 1972: Jack Anderson discloses Dita Beard (ITT) memo indicating antitrust charges were dropped for $400,000 contribution to Republican Party.
- 1980: Gordie Howe becomes 1st NHL player to score 800 career goals.
- 1980: Michael Bracey ends 59 hours 55 minutes trapped in an elevator, England.
- 1984: Canadian PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he is stepping down.
- 1988: KWK-FM in St Louis MO changes call letters to WKBG.
- 1988: Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WWII deportations.
- 1988: NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs.
- 1988: Mark Greatbatch scores 107 vs England on Test Cricket debut.
- 1992: The Professional Spring Football League begins.
- 1992: Dawn Coe wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open.
- 1996: Kenya defeat West Indies (all out 93) in Cricket World Cup.
- 1996: Soyuz TM-23 lands.