http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Feb 8, 1943: Americans secure Guadalcanal
On this day in 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged campaign. The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.
Guadalcanal is the largest of the Solomons, a group of 992 islands and atolls, 347 of which are inhabited, in the South Pacific Ocean. The Solomons, which are located northeast of Australia and have 87 indigenous languages, were discovered in 1568 by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana de Neyra (1541-95). In 1893, the British annexed Guadalcanal, along with the other central and southern Solomons. The Germans took control of the northern Solomons in 1885, but transferred these islands, except for Bougainville and Buka (which eventually went to the Australians) to the British in 1900.
The Japanese invaded the Solomons in 1942 during World War II and began building a strategic airfield on Guadalcanal. On August 7 of that year, U.S. Marines landed on the island, signaling the Allies' first major offensive against Japanese-held positions in the Pacific. The Japanese responded quickly with sea and air attacks. A series of bloody battles ensued in the debilitating tropical heat as Marines sparred with Japanese troops on land, while in the waters surrounding Guadalcanal, the U.S. Navy fought six major engagements with the Japanese between August 24 and November 30. In mid-November 1942, the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, died together when the Japanese sunk their ship, the USS Juneau.
Both sides suffered heavy losses of men, warships and planes in the battle for Guadalcanal. An estimated 1,600 U.S. troops were killed, over 4,000 were wounded and several thousand more died from disease. The Japanese lost 24,000 soldiers. On December 31, 1942, Emperor Hirohito told Japanese troops they could withdraw from the area; the Americans secured Guadalcanal about five weeks later.
The Solomons gained their independence from Britain in 1978. In the late 1990s, fighting broke out between rival ethnic groups on Guadalcanal and continued until an Australian-led international peacekeeping mission restored order in 2003. Today, with a population of over half a million people, the Solomons are known as a scuba diver and fisherman's paradise.
Feb 8, 1924: First execution by lethal gas
The first execution by lethal gas in American history is carried out in Carson City, Nevada. The executed man was Tong Lee, a member of a Chinese gang who was convicted of murdering a rival gang member. Lethal gas was adopted by Nevada in 1921 as a more humane method of carrying out its death sentences, as opposed to the traditional techniques of execution by hanging, firing squad, or electrocution.
During a lethal gas execution, the prisoner is sealed in an airtight chamber and either potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide is dropped into a pan of hydrochloric acid. This produces hydrocyanic gas, which destroys a human body's ability to process blood hemoglobin. The prisoner falls unconscious within seconds and chokes to death, unless he or she holds his or her breath, in which case the prisoner often suffers violent convulsions for up to a minute before dying.
Lethal gas as a method of carrying out capital punishment was largely replaced by lethal injection in the late 20th century.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
421 - Flavius Constantine becomes Co-Emperor as Emperor
Constantius III of the Western Roman Empire with Honorius
1526 - Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, many die
1575 - University Leiden founded, and given the motto
"Praesidium Libertatis"
1600 - Vatican convicts scholar Giordano Bruno to death
1601 - Earl Robert Devereux of Essex armies draws into
London
1622 - King James I disbands the English parliament
1672 - Isaac Newton reads 1st optics paper before Royal
Society in London
1690 - French & Indian troops set Schenectady settlement
NY on fire
1690 - Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
1693 - William & Mary college is chartered in the
Dominion and Colony of Virginia (2nd in North America)
1726 - The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.
1735 - 1st opera in US "Flora," opens in
Charleston, SC
1743 - Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 AUs of Earth
1744 - French/Spanish fleet leaves Toulon
1750 - Minor earthquake in London
1775 - Leidse U 400th anniversary dinner
1776 - Wolfgang von Goethes' "Stella," premieres
in Hamburg
1802 - Simon Willard patents banjo clock
1807 - Napoleon defeats Russians in battle of Eylau
Physicist & Mathematician Isaac NewtonPhysicist &
Mathematician Isaac Newton 1809 - Franz I of Austria declares war on France
1837 - 1st VP chosen by Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren
admin)
1849 - New Roman Republic established.
1855 - The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in
southern Devon.
1861 - Confederate States of America organizes in
Montgomery, Ala
1862 - Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of
Pamlico Sound
1862 - Opera "Lily of Killarney," premieres in
London
1865 - 1st black major in US army, Martin Robinson Delany
1867 - The Ausgleich results in the establishment of the
Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
1879 - Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal
Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
1883 - Louis Waterman begins experiments to invents fountain
pen
1887 - Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minn became the 1st US
ski club
1887 - Under the Dawes Act indians living apart from tribe
granted citizenship
1887 - The Dawes Act authorized the President of the United
States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual
allotments.
1889 - Flood ravages Dutch coast
1894 - Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to
disenfranchise blacks
Composer Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyComposer Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky 1895 - Tchaikovsky/Petipa's "Swan Lake," premieres in
Petersburg
1896 - Georges Feydeaus' "Le Dindon," premieres in
Paris
1896 - Western Conference forms of Midwestern U, later
renamed Big 10 Conf
1898 - John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding &
gumming mach (Mass)
1904 - Russo-Japanese War begins
1905 - Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing
some 10,000 people
1908 - Wilhelmina '08 soccer team forms in Weert Neth
1909 - France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William
D. Boyce.
1911 - US helps overthrow Pres Miguel Devila of Honduras
1912 - 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in
Jacksonville, Fla
1914 - General Zamon becomes president of Haiti
1915 - "Birth of a Nation" opens at Clune's
Auditorium in LA
1916 - French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed
off Syrian coast, kills 374
1916 - NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25
cent seats
1918 - "Stars & Stripes," weekly US armed
forces newspaper, 1st published
1920 - Swiss men vote against women's suffrage
1922 - Radio arrives at the White House
1923 - Coal mine explosion at Dawson, New Mexico kills 120
1923 - German NSDAP Volkischer Beobachter newspaper becomes
a daily
1924 - 1st coast-to-coast radio hookup: Gen John Joseph
Carty speech in Chic
1925 - Kaufman & Berlin's "cocoanuts,"
premieres in NYC
1925 - Marcus Garvey enters federal prison in Atlanta
1926 - German Reichstag decides to apply for League of
Nations membership
1926 - Sean O'Casey's "Plough & Stars" opens
at Abbey Theater Dublin
Animator Walt DisneyAnimator Walt Disney 1926 - Disney
Brothers Cartoon Studio becomes Walt Disney Studios
1927 - Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
1928 - 1st transatlantic TV image received, Hartsdale, NY
1928 - Scottish inventor J Blaird demonstrates color-TV
1929 - KOY-AM in Phoenix Arizona begins radio transmissions
1930 - "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny
Mereoff hits #1
1931 - Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria
kills 3,000
1933 - -23°F (-31°C), Seminole, Texas (state record)
1933 - 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
1934 - Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington, DC
1934 - Gaston Doumergue forms new French government
1935 - 1st NFL draft; Jay Berwanger of U Chicago is 1st pick
(by Eagles) He never plays in NFL
1936 - 1st NFL draft, Eagles select Heisman Trophy winner
Jay Berwanger
1936 - 1st ski jumping tournament, Red Wing, Minn
1936 - 1st successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot,
Conacher vs Rangers
1936 - Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India
Congress Party
1937 - Maxwell Anderson's "Masque of Kings,"
premieres in NYC
1940 - Lewis & Hamilton's musical "Two for the
Show," premieres in NYC
1940 - Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in
Poland
1941 - Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to
attack Singapore
1941 - NSB'er Max Blokzijl begins nazi propaganda on Dutch
radio
1942 - Stravinsky's "Danses Concertantes,"
premieres in Los Angeles
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1942 - Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese
descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort
1943 - Red Army recaptures Kursk
1944 - 1st black reporter accredited to White House, Harry
McAlpin
1944 - U-762 sunk off Ireland
1945 - Allied air attack on Goch/Kleef/Kalkar/Reichswald
1946 - Béla Bartók's 3rd Concert for piano/orchestra
premieres in Philadelphia, PA, US
1946 - Premier Salazar of Portugal forbids opposition
parties
1947 - Jan van der Hoorn wins 8th Dutch 11-cities skating
race (10:51)
1947 - KSD (now KSDK) TV channel 5 in St Louis, MO (NBC)
begins broadcasting
1948 - 5th Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz,
Switzerland
1949 - Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty sentenced to life in
prison
1952 - "RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day,"
debuts on NBC TV
1952 - Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United
Kingdom
1953 - Betty Jameson wins LPGA Serbin Golf Open
1953 - WLVA (now WSET) TV channel 13 in Lynchburg-Roanoke,
VA (ABC) begins
Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth IIQueen of the United
Kingdom Elizabeth II 1955 - Malenkov resigns as USSR premier, Bulganin replaces
him
1955 - The Government of Sindh abolished Jagirdari system in
the province. One million acres (4000 km²) of land thus acquired is to be
distributed among the landless peasants.
1956 - Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
1957 - SF Public Library's bookmobile initiated in front of
City Hall
1958 - Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of
South Rhodesia
1958 - French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die
1958 - KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1960 - Boston Celtic Bill Russell becomes 1st NBAer with 50
rebounds (51)
1960 - Congress opens hearings looking into payola
1960 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issued an
Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House
of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name
"Mountbatten-Windsor".
1962 - KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo, TX (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 - 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People
(Communist)
1963 - AFL's Dallas Texans become KC Chiefs
1963 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 - Peter Shaffer's "Royal Hunt of the Sun,"
premieres in London
1964 - Rep Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights
protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
1965 - Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach
NJ, kills 84
1965 - Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love"
1967 - Longest losing streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history
(10 games)
1967 - Peter (Asher) & Gordon (Waller) discontinue their
singing partnership
1967 - Pirate Radio UKGM (England) closes down
Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth IIQueen of the United
Kingdom Elizabeth II 1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 - Officers kill 3 students demonstrating in SC State
(Orangeburg)
1969 - Last edition of Saturday Evening Post
1969 - Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua,
Mexico
1971 - Pedro Morales beats Ivan Koloff in NY, to become WWF
wrestling champ
1971 - South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
1971 - The Nasdaq stock market index debuts.
1972 - Josh Gibson & Buck Leonard selected to Hall of
Fame
1973 - Jean Kerrs "Finishing Touches," premieres
in NYC
1973 - Mushtaq & Asif Iqbal make 350 stand for 4th
wicket v NZ
1973 - Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate
scandal
1974 - "Good Times," debuts on CBS TV
1974 - Ringo releases "You're 16"
1974 - Skylab 4's astronauts land
1974 - Soap opera "Secret Storm" ends a 20 year
run
1975 - 1800 Unification church couples' wed in Korea
1975 - Caps only got one shot in a period against Islanders
1976 - Hua Guofeng becomes premier of China PR
1976 - Jan Stephens wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Naples Golf
Classic
1976 - Largest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavs vs
Wash-21,130)
1977 - Earthquake in SF, at 5.0, strongest since 1966
Magazine Publisher Larry FlyntMagazine Publisher Larry Flynt
1977 - Hustler publisher Larry Flynt sentenced due to
1978 - Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes
PM of Kuwait
1978 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast
on radio for the first time.
1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1979 - Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the
Republic of the Congo for the first time.
1981 - "5 O'Clock Girl" closes at Helen Hayes
Theater NYC after 12 perfs
1981 - "Brigadoon" closes at Majestic Theater NYC
after 133 performances
1981 - Sally Little wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
1981 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Elaine
Zayak
1981 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott
Hamilton
1982 - Dodgers trade Davey Lopes to A's breaking up the
longest-playing infield (Cey-Russell-Lopes-Garvey)
1983 - 35th NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 9-3 at NY
Islander
1983 - Baseball orders Mickey Mantle to sever ties with
Claridge Casino
1983 - Eric Peters sets transatlantic sailboat record
(E-W)-46 days
1983 - Tina Howe's "Painting Churches," premieres
in NYC
NHL all-time top scorer Wayne GretzkyNHL all-time top scorer
Wayne Gretzky 1983 - Wayne Gretzky sets NHL all star record of 4 goals in 1
period
1983 - Champion thoroughbred Shergar kidnapped in Ireland;
never found Lloyds of London pays $10.6 million insurance
1984 - 14th Winter Olympic games opens in Sarajevo,
Yugoslavia
1984 - 1st time 8 people in space
1984 - A's take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free
agent compensation
1984 - Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
1985 - 1st-class cricket debut of Jimmy Adams (age 17),
Jamaica v Barbados
1985 - Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5½"
basketball shot
1985 - Michael Gross swims world record 800m freestyle
(7:38.75)
1985 - Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea
1986 - 5' 7" Spud Webb of Atlanta Hawks wins NBA Slam
Dunk Competition
1986 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian
Boitano
1986 - 1984 Summer Olympics head of the LAPD bomb squad,
Arleigh McCree, and his partner Officer Ronald Ball of the Firearms and
explosives unit were killed while trying to dismantle two pipe bombs when they
responded to a call. McCree was recognized as one of the top explosive experts
in the world.
1987 - 37th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 154-149 (OT)
at Seattle
1987 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
1988 - NASA launches DOD-2
1989 - 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles
1989 - Jockey Chris Antley begins record of 64 consecutive
winning days
1989 - US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145
die
1990 - David Hares "Racing Demon," premieres in
London
1990 - "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney
suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
1991 - Roger Clemens signs record $5,380,250 per year Red
Sox contract
1992 - "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at
#1
1992 - 16th Winter Olympic games opens in Albertville,
France
1992 - Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter
1993 - Suchoi-24 crashes into Tupolev passenger flight, 134
die
1993 - GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC"
program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were
prone to fires
Actor Jack NicholsonActor Jack Nicholson 1994 - Jack
Nicholson uses a golf club to attack a car
1994 - Kapil Dev sets world record for Test Cricket wickets
with 432
1994 - Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee charge with possession
of loaded firearm
1995 - 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
1996 - NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL
franchise to Balt but he had to leave the Browns' name behind
1996 - The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency
Act.
1996 - The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in
Cyberspace" takes place.
1998 - 1st female ice hockey game in Olympic history Finland
beats Sweden 6-0
1998 - 48th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 135-114 at
NYC
1998 - NHL stops season until Feb 24th to accomodate the
Olympics
2002 - XIX Winter Olympics opens in Salt Lake City, Utah,
United States
2004 - 46th Grammy Awards: Clocks, Evanescence wins
2004 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 55-52
2005 - Israel and Palestinians agree to cease-fire.
2006 - 48th Grammy Awards: Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, John
Legend wins
2008 - Nebraska bans electric chair as sole execution
method.
2009 - 51st
Grammy Awards: Please Read The Letter, Adele wins
2009 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 30-21
2013 - 16 people are killed and 27 are wounded by a market
bombing in Kalaya, Pakistan
2013 - 100, 000 people march to demand justice for the
atrocities of the Bangladesh Liberation War in Dhaka
2013 - 29 people are killed and 69 are injured in a series
of Iraq bombings
2013 - A massive blizzard begins in the US and Canada that
resulted in 15 deaths, 5,300 cancelled flights, and loss of power for 900,000
people
1587 Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded. 1693 College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., received its charter, becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States. 1870 The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps. 1904 The Russo-Japanese war began when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in northeast China. 1915 D. W. Griffith's controversial epic, The Birth of a Nation premiered in Los Angeles. 1924 The gas chamber was used for the first time as a method of execution in the United States. Gangster Gee Jon was put to death at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City. 1960 The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the U.S. House of Representatives. Dick Clark would testify in April. 1980 President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb08.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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