1760- Birthday of Richard Allen, the first black ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church (1799), and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816, was born in slavery in Philadelphia. 
http://www.brightmoments.com/blackhistory/nrallen.html
http://earlyamerica.com/review/spring97/allen.html
    1779-A monument in Waimea, Kauai notes the spot of the death of Captain James Cook. Not the chamber of commerce statue in the middle of town, but by the actual landing spot where the river meets the ocean. It was quite defamed and the islanders to this day obviously still have no respect for him. The Kauai islanders in Wampei evidently still hold a grudge about the way they were treated. Investigating the alleged theft of a boat that had landed from his ship, he was stabbed to death by natives this date. There were many explorers of the new world who did not make it home. He was one of them.
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/jcook.html
    1784- James Davenport received a patent for a carding and spinning machine, the first textile machinery patent. He later established the Globe Mills, Philadelphia, PA. 
    1797 --Battle of Cape St Vincent, known as Nelson’s forgotten battle. It was a great and welcome victory for the Royal Navy - 15 British ships had defeated a Spanish fleet of 27, and the Spanish ships had a greater number of guns and men. But, Admiral Jervis had trained a highly disciplined force and this was pitted against a Spanish navy under Don José Cordoba that was little more than a panic stricken mob. Of 600-900 men on board his ships, only some 60 to 80 were trained seamen, the others being soldiers or inexperienced landsmen. The Spanish men fought courageously but without direction. After the San Josef was captured it was found that some of her of guns still had their tompions in the muzzles. The confusion amongst the Spanish fleet was so great that they were unable to use their guns without causing more damage to their own ships than to the British. This was a turning point that affected the colonies as Britain began her dominance over the seas and fight for real estate in the new world from the Spanish and French, who would rather see the United States obtain the land than the British.
http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Heritage/1797/battle/index.html
    1801- Birthday of Mary Ann Prout, known as “ Aunt Mary Prout.” It is believed most likely that this American--social activist, humanitarian, and educator--was born free on this date at Baltimore, MD. Prout became a teacher and in 1830 founded a day school. Actively involved in her church, she founded a secret society that became the Independent Order of St. Luke to help with the cost of medical care and burial services for needy blacks, an organization that grew to have 1,500 chapters across the nation by 1900. Prout died at Baltimore in 1884.
    1805- Colonial American theologian Henry Ware, 41, was confirmed as the first Unitarian professor to teach at Harvard University. Soon after, the Trinitarian Congregationalist teachers began withdrawing from the school, and in 1808 established Andover Theological Seminary. 
    1817-Believed to be the birthday of Frederick Douglas, perhaps the beginning
leader of the Civil Rights movement; a confident of President Abraham Lincoln.
http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/home.html 
http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html 
http://www.americancivilwar.com/colored/frederick_douglass.html
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/freddoug.html
http://www.baltimoremd.com/monuments/douglass1.html
http://www.cr.nps.gov/muse
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/um/exhibits/douglass/overview.htm
    1819-Birthday of Christopher Sholes, a printer and newspaper editor by trade, developed a page numbering machine in the mid-1800s. A friend suggested he modify the machine into a letter-printing device. Sholes patented the typewriter in 1868 and sold the rights to Remington in 1873. The typewriter served as the basis for the modern computer keyboard.
    1824-Birthday of Winfield Scott Hancock, born at Montgomery, PA, died Feb 9, 1886 at Governor’s Island, NY. After serving as Union general in the Civil War, his command of the military division of Texas and Louisiana won him much favor form the Democratic Party because he allowed local civil authorities to retain their power. He pleased the Democrats so well they made him their presidential candidate in 1880. The presidential nominations of 1880 were wide open. The tariff was the only major issue and Hancock was inept at discussing it. The candidates for the most part stayed home, and for the first time interested supporters came in large numbers to visit them at their homes. James A. Garfield especially received gifts and poems composed for the occasion, watching silently as supporters trampled his flowers and shrubs. Garfield was elected president and Chester A. Arthur was elected vice president. The electoral vote was Garfield, 214; Winfield S. Hancock, 155. The popular vote was Garfield 4,449,053; Hancock, 4,443,035, a very narrow victory. Less than six months in his office, President Garfield would be shot July 2, 1881 at the Washington, DC railroad station. Chester A. Arthur would be acting president until Garfield’s death on September 19, 1881.
    1838-Birthday of Margaret E. Knight who held 27 patents including the machinery that makes flat-bottomed paper bags (rather than the envelope type). The basic machinery concept which she patented in 1870 is still in use today. A remarkable inventor, she failed to realize great financial profit from her inventions which included a safety valve for power looms (invented when she was 12) to six patents for shoe manufacturing machinery, plus valves, rotors, even engines.
    1842-Fans of Charles Dickens organize the Boz Ball, an elite party for the celebrated writer who had arrived in the United States in January for a five-month tour. (Dickens' earliest works had been published under the pseudonym Boz.) Only members of New York's aristocracy were invited to the ball, with each guest's background and pedigree thoroughly inspected. Tickets were priced at the outrageous sum of $10. The event, held at the Park Theater in New York, sold out, and event organizers later held two more sold-out balls, open to the general public.
    1849-President James Polk became the first US president to be photographed while in office. The photographer was Mathew B. Brady, who would become famous for his photography during the American Civil War. 
http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3g00000
/3g06000/3g06700/3g06742v.jpg
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/08/subs/08_b.html
    1859- Oregon became the 33rd state in the Union. Oregon’s many national parks and recreational areas are home to the state animal, the beaver, which also provides the state with its nickname, the Beaver State. Oregon’s agricultural industry raises more hazelnuts than any other state, hence the state nut is the hazelnut. The fishing industry is also very large in this northwestern state, making the Chinook salmon the official fish. The Douglas fir, a popular Christmas tree in many American households, comes from the forests of Oregon and is the state tree. Other official Oregon state symbols are state bird: western meadowlark; state flower: Oregon grape; state insect: swallowtail butterfly. “She flies with her own wings” (Alis volat Propriis) is Oregon’s state motto. The state gemstone: sunstone; state rock: thunder egg; state song: "Oregon, my Oregon"; and state dance: square dance. Contrary to popular belief, Portland is not the capital; it is Salem.
    1859- Birthday of George Washington Gale Ferris, American engineer and inventor, at Galesburg, IL. Among his many accomplishments as a civil engineer, Ferris is best remembered as the inventor of the Ferris wheel, which he developed for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, IL, in 1893. Built on the Midway Plaisance, the 250-feet-in-diameter Ferris wheel (with 36 coaches, each capable of carrying 40 passengers), proved one of the greatest attractions of the fair. It was America's answer to the Eiffel Tower of the Paris International Exposition of 1889. Ferris died at Pittsburgh, PA, Nov 22, 1896.
    1864-Union General William T. Sherman enters Meridian, Mississippi, during a winter campaign that served as a precursor to his "March to the Sea." This often-overlooked campaign was the first attempt by the Union at total warfare, a strike aimed not just at military objectives but also at the will of the Rebel population. 
Sherman launched the campaign from Vicksburg, Mississippi, with the goal of destroying the rail center at Meridian and clearing central Mississippi of Confederate resistance. Sherman believed this would free additional Federal troops that he hoped to use on his planned campaign against Atlanta, Georgia, in the following months. 
Sherman led 25'000 soldiers east from Vicksburg and ordered another 7000 under General William Sooy Smith to march southeast from Memphis, Tennessee. They planned to meet at Meridian in eastern Mississippi. The Confederates had few troops with which to stop Sherman. General Leonidas Polk had less than 10'000 men to defend the state. Polk retreated from the capital at Jackson as Sherman approached, and some scattered cavalry units could not impede the Yankees' progress. Polk tried to block the roads to Meridian so the Confederates could move as many supplies as possible from the city's warehouses, but Sherman pushed into the city on 14 February under a torrential rain. 
After capturing Meridian, Sherman began to destroy the railroad and storage facilities while he waited for the arrival of Smith. Sherman later wrote: "For five days, 10'000 men worked hard and with a will in that work of destruction...Meridian, with its depots, storehouses, arsenals, hospitals, offices, hotels, and cantonments no longer exists." Sherman waited until 20 February for Smith to arrive, but Smith never reached Meridian. On 21 February, Confederate troops under General Nathan Bedford Forrest waylaid Smith at West Point, Mississippi, and dealt the Federals a resounding defeat. Smith returned to Memphis, and Sherman turned back towards Vicksburg. 
Ultimately, Sherman failed to clear Mississippi of Rebels, and the Confederates repaired the rail lines within a month. Sherman did learn how to live off the land, however, and took notes on how to strike a blow against the civilian population of the South. He used that knowledge with devastating results in Georgia later that year.
    1867-Less than two years after the Civil War ended, Morehouse College was founded as Augusta Institute in Augusta, Georgia. The college was relocated to Atlanta in 1879 and received its present name in 1913. Morehouse is the nation's only historically black, all-male, four-year liberal arts college. Prominent alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., JET magazine publisher Robert Johnson, two-time Olympic gold medal hurdler Edwin Moses, former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, filmmaker Spike Lee, and actor Samuel L. Jackson.
http://www.morehouse.edu/
    1870 -- Esther Morris becomes the nation's first woman justice of the peace. 
Morris is credited with winning women's suffrage in Wyoming territory last year. She arm-twisted two Democratic lawmakers into sponsoring legislation giving women the vote after giving a dinner for twenty ( one of those who did not attend, opposed the legislation, some feel because he was not invited to the dinner; or perhaps he knew what was the purpose of the dinner and did not want to attend). Most Wyoming lawmakers treated the measure lightheartedly, hoping their bold step would attract more women to the territory. Democrats, for their part, were counting on a veto by Governor John Campbell. After the bill passed, however, Campbell promptly signed the bill, making Wyoming the first state or territory to enact women's suffrage. In 1872, the Democrats try to repeal the bill, offering Campbell 2,000 dollars to cooperate. The governor firmly refused. 
http://www.womenofthewest.org/exhibits/suffrage/justice_full.html
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/photos9.html
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/morris.htm
    1880-Birthday of Dei Gratia Emperor Norton of the United States & Protector of Mexico. 
http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/nort.html
http://members.aol.com/VirtualOle/norton.html
http://www.discordia.org/~keeper/norton.html
http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/principia.html 
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/norton.html
http://www.notfrisco.com/nortoniana/index.html
    1886-. Destined to become one of the state's major exports, the first trainload of oranges grown by southern California farmers left Los Angeles this day via the transcontinental railroad.

In 1880, just before the first trainload of oranges departed, Los Angeles had 11,183 inhabitants a decade later, the population had ballooned to 102,479. By 1920, there would be more than half a million residents. Los Angeles was already well on its way to becoming the largest urban center in the American West. The Spanish had established Los Angeles, one of the oldest cities in the Far West, in 1781 to help colonize the region. For several decades, the city was the largest center of population in Mexican California. Mexican settlement and development of California, however, proceeded very slowly, and Los Angeles developed little real economic or political power during this period. By the time the U.S. took control of California in 1848, Los Angeles still only had just over 1,610 inhabitants. As Anglo-Americans began to assert their control over California, they gradually broke up the large Hispanic ranches and replaced them with a more diversified farming economy. With irrigation, southern California proved an ideal environment for growing many crops, particularly valuable fruits like oranges. During the 1870s and 1880s, state railroad lines linking Los Angeles into the new system of transcontinental railways created additional moneymaking opportunities. Settlers, tourists, and health seekers all boarded trains to travel to the Pacific, where the sunny climate and beautiful scenery promised a new and better life. The healthful new California lifestyle became closely associated in the public mind with the sweet fruits that grew so abundantly in the orchards around Los Angeles. Taking advantage of the rapid transportation capabilities of the transcontinental lines, Los Angeles area orchard owners began shipping their oranges to the East in 1886. As the city grew, it subdivided many nearby orchards and pushed the orange growers out into regions like Orange County. There the orange growers steadily increased the size of their orchards to the point where local supplies of water for irrigation were inadequate. Determined to sustain their agricultural and real estate booms, Los Angeles residents undertook a massive program of hydraulic engineering in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Engineers took water from the distant mountains to transform the arid southern California ecosystem into a green agricultural and residential paradise. The resulting growth was astonishing. 
    1893-Birthday of singer/pianist/songwriter Perry Bradford, Montgomery, Al
http://www.redhotjazz.com/bradford.html
http://www.theiceberg.com/artist/25838/perry_bradford/
http://www.jass.com/lonesome.html
http://64.33.34.112/.WWW/b8.html
    1894-,Jack Benny Birthday, American comedian. Born Benjamin Kubelsky, Jack Benny entered vaudeville at Waukegan, IL, at age 17, using the violin as a comic stage prop. His radio show first aired in 1932 and continued for 20 years with little change in format. He also had a long-running television show. One of his most well-known comic gimmicks was his purported stinginess. Benny was born at Chicago, IL, and died Dec 26, 1974, at Beverly Hills, CA.
    1899 - A great blizzard struck the eastern U.S. Washington D.C. received 20.5 inches of snow to bring their total snow depth to nearly three feet. The storm produced 36 inches of snow at Cape May NJ
    1912 – Arizona became the 48th state (in Indian, Arizona means ‘little or young spring’). From its beautiful deserts comes the state bird: the cactus wren; the state flower: the saguaro cactus’ flower, the state reptile: Arizona ridge nose rattlesnake; state fossil: petrified wood; state gem: turquoise; the oasis, the capital city of Phoenix. More American Indians live in Arizona than any other state, representing over 14 different tribes. But the Spanish influence is everywhere, including the official state neckwear: the bolo tie. State motto: Ditat Deus (God enriches). 
    1913 –Birthday of American labor leader (gangster) Jimmy Hoffa lives, born Brazil, Indiana. Died we do not know date nor where. (Where is this guy?) 
http://boozers.fortunecity.com/brewerytap/586/hoffa.html
http://www.hoffa.com/
http://www.who2.com/jimmyhoffa.html
    1914- Birth of Ira F. Stanphill, Assemblies of God clergyman and song evangelist. He is best known today for the hymn, "Room at the Cross," which he penned in 1946. 
1946, Edith Houghton - signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as the first woman to scout for a major league baseball team.
    1918 - The film, "Tarzan of the Apes", was released. It was based on stories written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The movie centered on 10-year-old Gordon Griffith who played the young Tarzan, the older Tarzan was played by Elmo Lincoln. Famous baseball player, Lou Gehrig, turned down an offer to play Tarzan. Four Tarzan actors have won Olympic medals: Johnny Weissmuller, Herman Brix, Buster Crabbe and Glen Morris. Johnny Weissmuller made the Tarzan yell famous.
    1920- Leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) approved the formation of a new organization-the League of Women Voters. With the vote for women just a few months away, the new organization was created to help American women exercise their new political rights and responsibilities. www.lwv.org
    1921 -- In New York, Jane Heap & Margaret Anderson face obscenity charges for publishing a portion of James Joyce's Ulysses in the Little Review. They got fined $50. Here is a picture of the "Little Review" reunion:
Jane Heap, Mina Loy, & Ezra Pound, Paris, c. 1923
http://jacket.zip.com.au/jacket05/pix05/mina_pound.jpg
    1922- Murray “The K” Kauffman, WINS NYC DJ, born Richmond, VA.
    1925 -- A close-up of a lottery list shows the winning numbers drawn in the Mexican National Lottery, dated February 14, 1925. The camera pulls back to the hands of a man holding a lottery ticket. The scraggly-looking bum, a dirty, ragged scrounger [later identified as Fred C. Dobbs "Dobbsie" (Humphrey Bogart)], tears his losing ticket to pieces. 
--- From John Huston's film script of the anarchist B. Traven's book, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. 
http://www.riverart.com/books/traven.htm
    1925-Birthday of bandleader Elliot Lawrence (Broza).
http://www.theiceberg.com/artist.html?artist_id=27416
http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/lawrence_e_cat.html
http://www.jazzmanrecords.com/ellawbigban.html
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?PID=1020872
    1928- the Dorsey Brothers record their first record, Okeh Label.
    1929- In the gangland struggle for control of the Chicago trade in bootleg liquor, gunmen in the employ of mobster Al Capone machine-gunned seven members of the George “Bugs” Moran gang in garage on North Clark Street. It made national headlines as the “the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
    1930—The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett is published. Ex-Pinkerton agent turned author Dashiell Hammett’s crime novel introducing Sam Spade was published this day by Alfred A. Knopf in New York, NY. (The novel has been serialized in Black Mask magazine in the fall of 1929, but Hammett revised the text.) The novel was a milestone in American literature, offering the model by which all “hard-boiled” crime fiction would follow. And in terse tough guy San Spade ( who “looked rather pleasantly like a blood satan.”, the world found a new pop icon. The notably dark haired Humphrey Bogart played Spade in the 1941 film version directed by John Huston.
    1930-Birthday of trumpet player Dwike Mitchell, Dunedin, FL
http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/linernotes/zinsser.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966491343/inktomi-bkasin-20/
002-5861649-1425657
    1931-Ted Lewis' "Just A Gigolo" hits #1 on the pop singles chart. Over a half century later, "Diamond" David Lee Roth scores a major hit with the same song
    1932 - The U.S. won its first Olympic bobsled competition (both the two-man and four-man races) at the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, NY. Twelve other teams competed in the event. This was also the first bobsledding competition in the United States. The four-man team included Edward Eagan, who was also the 1920 Olympic light heavyweight boxing champion. Eagan's winter gold medal made him the first person to take home gold in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. 
    1935-Birthday of trombonist Rob McConnel, London, Ontario
http://www.concordrecords.com/bios/mcconnell.html
http://www.jazzfest.markham.on.ca/McConnell.htm 
    1933 – Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak of Chicago is fatally wounded in Miami, Florida, by an assassin's bullet intended for President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. 
http://cermak.com/mayor/
http://www.iarelative.com/cz1933/cermak.htm
    1940 - The first porpoise born in captivity arrived at Marineland in Florida. 
    1940 - A "Saint Valentine's Day Blizzard" hit the northeastern U.S. Up to a foot and a half of snow blanketed southern New England, and whole gales accompanied the heavy snow stranding many in downtown Boston
    1941 - Frank Leahy was named head football coach at the University of Notre Dame. 
    1941- Anita O’Day joins Gene Krupa’s Band (as I compile this, I am listening to “Anita O'Day swings Cole Porter with Billy May.” I think I like Ella singing the songs better, but the arrangements
here are the best Billy May---Lean, Baby, Lean.)
    1945--Allied fire-bombing of Dresden, killing more than 135,000 German citizens, enters into its second day. Many die of suffocation as firestorms, purposely created by dropping incendiary bombs in the raids, consume all the oxygen over large areas of the city. Hitler’s days are numbered as he believes the V-3 will soon be dropping over the United States.
    1945--BIGELOW, ELMER CHARLES Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Watertender First Class, U.S. Naval Reserve. Born: 12 July 1920, Hebron, 111. Accredited to. Illinois. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving on board the U.S.S. Fletcher during action against enemy Japanese forces off Corregidor Island in the Philippines, 14 February 1945. Standing topside when an enemy shell struck the Fletcher, Bigelow, acting instantly as the deadly projectile exploded into fragments which penetrated the No. 1 gun magazine and set fire to several powder cases, picked up a pair of fire extinguishers and rushed below in a resolute attempt to quell the raging flames. Refusing to waste the precious time required to don rescue-breathing apparatus, he plunged through the blinding smoke billowing out of the magazine hatch and dropped into the blazing compartment. Despite the acrid, burning powder smoke which seared his lungs with every agonizing breath, he worked rapidly and with instinctive sureness and succeeded in quickly extinguishing the fires and in cooling the cases and bulkheads, thereby preventing further damage to the stricken ship. Although he succumbed to his injuries on the following day, Bigelow, by his dauntless valor, unfaltering skill and prompt action in the critical emergency, had averted a magazine explosion which undoubtedly would have left his ship wallowing at the mercy of the furiously pounding Japanese guns on Corregidor, and his heroic spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.
    1946- J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly demonstrated the Electronic Numerical integrator and Computer (ENIAC) for the first time at the University of Pennsylvania. This was the first electronic digital computer. It occupied a room the size of a gymnasium and contained nearly 18,000 vacuum tubes. The Army commissioned the computer to speed the calculation of firing tables for artillery. By the time the computer was ready, World War II was over. However, ENIAC prepared the way for future generations of computers. Compare today's 32mb Palm Pilot with the .5kb ENIAC.
    1949—Top Hits
A Little Bird Told Me - Evelyn Knight
Powder Your Face with Sunshine - Evelyn Knight
Far Away Places - Margaret Whiting
I Love You So Much It Hurts - Jimmy Wakely
    1951- Sugar Ray Robinson, often regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, won the world middleweight championship by knocking out Jake LaMotta in the 15th round of a fight in Chicago.
    1953- Teresa Brewer's "Till I Waltz Again with You" hits #1.
    1956- Birthday of Dave Dravecky, former baseball player, Youngstown, OH.
    1957 - Lionel Hampton’s only major musical work, "King David", debuted at New York’s Town Hall. Dimitri Mitropoulos conducted the four-part symphony jazz suite.
    1957 -- Georgia Senate unanimously approves Senator Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites.
    1957—Top Hits
Too Much - Elvis Presley
Young Love - Tab Hunter
You Don’t Owe Me a Thing - Johnnie Ray
Young Love - Sonny James
    1962 - A televised tour of the White House, led by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and hosted by Charles Collingwood, was broadcast simultaneously by CBS and NBC. The tour was watched by an estimated 46,500,000 viewers, offering them their first opportunity to see many of the rooms of the President's home. The First Lady was praised on her astute knowledge of the antique furniture in the White House, as she explained the history of many of the pieces during the tour. 
    1962-President John F. Kennedy authorizes U.S. military advisors in Vietnam to return fire if fired upon. At a news conference, he said, "The training missions we have [in South Vietnam] have been instructed that if they are fired upon, they are of course to fire back, but we have not sent combat troops in [the] generally understood sense of the word." In effect, Kennedy was acknowledging that U.S. forces were involved in the fighting, but he wished to downplay any appearance of increased American involvement in the war. The next day former Vice President Nixon expressed hopes that President Kennedy would "step up the build-up and under no circumstances curtail it because of possible criticism." Contrary to popular belief, it was not President Kennedy who authorized the first military assistance to the government of Viet Nam. It was President Harry S. Truman in 1946. Each president since then inherited this decision to halt communism and increased participation in the South East.
    1965—Top Hits
You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’ - The Righteous Brothers
This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis & The Playboys
All Day and All of the Night - The Kinks
You’re the Only World I Know - Sonny James
    1966-Simon and Garfunkel receive their first gold record for "Sounds of Silence," which had hit Number One on the pop charts on the first day of this year.
    1966 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers set a National Basketball Association record when, after 7 seasons of pro basketball, he hit a career high of 20,884 points. 
    1967 -- Jim Morrison and The Doors performed at Whisky A-Go-Go, 568 Sacramento St., San Francisco, California. 
http://www.thedoors.com/
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/2914/
http://doors.iscool.com/
    1967-Aretha Franklin records her signature song "Respect" at New York's Atlantic Studios
    1968 – Tired of traveling, The Jefferson Airplane opens at the Carousel Ballroom, Van Ness Avenue and Market Street, Frisco, California. 
http://www.starship.pp.se/history/part1.html
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/id_10021/bio.jhtml
http://grove.ufl.edu/~number6/Jefferson.Airplane/airplane.html
http://www.starship.pp.se/
    1968-Frank Zappa releases “We’re Only in it for the Money” album.
http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/
    1968-The Airplane opens at the Carousel Ballroom at Van Ness Ave. and Market Street, San Francisco.
    1970—45% favor or “have no opinion” regarding the war in Viet Nam. Despite an increasingly active antiwar movement, a Gallup Poll shows that a majority of those polled (55 percent) oppose an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. Those that favored American withdrawal had risen from 21 percent, in a November poll, to 35 percent. President Nixon had taken office in January 1969 promising to bring the war to an end, but a year later the fighting continued and support for the president's handling of the war had begun to slip significantly.
    1970-The Jaggerz, a six piece group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entered the Billboard chart with a song called "The Rapper". Although the tune would rise to #2 during an eleven week run, it would be the band's only chart appearance. 
    1970 -- The Chicago Seven Trial, case goes to the jury.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/chicago7.html
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/
HTML_docs/Exhibits/Track16.html#Poster
http://theaction.com/Abbie/
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/Graphics/Track16/chicago_8.gif
    1970-- In US, 55% oppose immediate withdrawal from Vietnam. Despite an increasingly active antiwar movement, a Gallup Poll shows that a majority of those polled (55%) oppose an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. Those that favored American withdrawal had risen from 21 percent, in a November poll, to 35 percent. President Nixon had taken office in January 1969 promising to bring the war to an end, but a year later the fighting continued and support for the president's handling of the war had begun to slip significantly. 
    1970- Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" hits #1.
    1971 – President Richard Nixon orders secret taping system in the white House. Instructs Bob Haldeman to install it also in the Nixon’s White House office. The purpose was to obtain historic information for his autobiography and the idea of a Nixon Library. There are those who say it was also a device to spy on his staff, which Nixon avertedly did, not trusting anyone, including his own Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ( as the tapes eventually revealed.) 
    1972 - The musical, "Grease", opened at New York's Eden Theater, a musical with a 1950's rock score by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, opened off-Broadway. The play later moved to Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre Among the original cast members were Barry Bostwick and Adrienne Barbeau. The show moved to Broadway later in 1972, and when it closed in 1980, it was one of the longest running musicals in history with 3,388 performances. A hit movie based on the play starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John produced the hit songs: "Grease" The movie included several additional songs. Among them were Barry Gibb's title tune, which became a hit for Frankie Valli, and John Farrar's "You're the One That I Want," a million-seller for the film's stars, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. by Frankie Valli, "You’re the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights" by Travolta and Newton-John. 
    1972-Birthday of football player Drew Bledso, Ellensburg, WA.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=2359
http://www.shopthedotcoms.com/drew_bledso_jersey.htm
    1973- birthday of football player Steve McNair, Mount Olive, MS.
http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/1069
    1973—Top Hits
Crocodile Rock - Elton John
Why Can’t We Live Together - Timmy Thomas
Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? - Hurricane Smith
She Needs Someone to Hold Her (When She Cries) - Conway Twitty
    1974- Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille - the Captain and Tennille - were married in California.
http://www.captainandtennille.net/
http://www.tonitennille.net
Feb 14
    1974-"Americans", a spoken word record by Byron McGregor, hit number one on the Cash Box Best Sellers Chart. McGregor was a newsman at Windsor Ontario's CKLW radio and recorded an editorial that was written by Canadian journalist Gordon Sinclair. The record described how Americans donate food, medicine and millions of dollars to those in trouble around the world and are rewarded with protests and flag burnings in other nations. 
    1977- Clifford Alexander, Jr. first Black Secretary of Army State, confirmed.
Retired October 1, 2003 as Chairman of Moody’s Investment Firm.
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/sw-sa/Alexander.htm
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0EIN/2003_ August_1/106171152/p1/article.jhtml
    1978 -- First 'microcomputer on a chip' patented by Texas Instruments
http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/tihistory.htm
    1980 - As Walter Cronkite announced his retirement from the "CBS Evening News", Dan Rather was chosen to replace television’s most trusted journalist. Cronkite announced Rather would take over the anchor desk in 1981. 
    1981—Top Hits
Celebration - Kool & The Gang
9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
I Love a Rainy Night - Eddie Rabbitt
Who’s Cheatin’ Who - Charly McClain
    1984- the publicly bisexual Elton John married sound engineer Renate Blauel in an Anglican church in a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Their engagement was a mere five days. The pair seldom lived together and they divorced in 1988. Blauel was reported to have received a 45-million-dollar divorce settlement.
    1985- The U.S. Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism announced their decision to begin accepting women as rabbis. 
    1986- Frank Zappa appeared on "Miami Vice" as a crime boss named "Mr. Frankie."
    1987- Singer Paul Simon performed before 20,000 people in the first of two shows at a soccer stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe. Sharing the stage with Simon were the black South African artists who helped him record his best-selling "Graceland" LP. Simon performed for free, and proceeds from the concerts went to charity. 
    1987- George Strait became the first artist to debut an album at number one on Billboard's country chart when "Ocean Front Property" went to the top spot in its first week.
    1987 - The largest crowd to see an NBA game was at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, as 57,745 people watched the Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 125-107. 
    1987 - A powerful storm spawned severe thunderstorms in Texas and Oklahoma, and produced heavy snow in the Rocky Mountain Region. Snowfall totals in Colorado ranged up to 27 inches at Telluride. Straight line winds gusting to 104 mph howled through Guadalupe Pass in West Texas.
    1987 - Dick Baldwin beat Adolph Rupp’s record for the most college career coaching wins as his Broome County Community College won game number 876. Baldwin was with the Upstate New York college for New Jersey's hometown favorites
    1987- Bon Jovi hit #1 with their tune "Livin' On A Prayer." It was from their album "Slippery When Wet" which went to #1 for 8 weeks and sold over 9 million copies!!!
    1988- Bobby Allison became the first 50-year old driver to win the Daytona 500 when he out dueled his 26-year-old son Davey.
    1989—Top Hits
Straight Up - Paula Abdul
Wild Thing - Tone Loc
Born to Be My Baby - Bon Jovi
Song of the South – Alabama
    1990 - Valentine's Day was a snowy one for many parts of the western and central U.S. Five to ten inches of snow fell across Iowa, and 6 to 12 inches of snow blanketed northern Illinois, and strong northeasterly winds accompanied the heavy snow. Air traffic came to a halt during the evening at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, where 9.7 inches of snow was reported. More than 250 traffic accidents were reported around Des Moines IA during the evening rush hour. An ice storm glazed east central sections of Illinois, causing twelve million dollars damage in Champaign County alone.
    1994- Michael Jackson sang a cappella passages from his songs "Billie Jean" and "Dangerous" in a Denver, Colorado, courtroom while testifying in a copyright infringement case. Crystal Cartier had claimed Jackson stole one of her songs but the case was dismissed. The court later began selling audio transcripts of Jackson's testimony, including his singing, at $15 a tape.
    1996 - The artist formerly known as Prince, age 37, returned to his hometown of Minneapolis and, under his given name Prince Rogers Nelson, married his backup dancer Mayte Jannell Garcia, age 22. Church workers were not allowed to watch the 40-minute candlelight service in the sanctuary, which was decorated with pink and white roses. It was the first marriage for both. The eccentric artist had announced a few years earlier that he would no longer use the name "Prince", and would be known by an unpronounceable sign that merges the symbols for male and female. 
    1998 - Eric Rudolph was declared the suspect in the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama abortion clinic. A $100,000 reward was offered for his arrest and conviction. As of early 2002, Rudolph was still at large, among the top ten most wanted.
    1999-Elton John plays himself in animated from for a Valentine's Day episode of "The Simpsons."
    1999-Matt Drudge reports:
<BILL GIVES HILLARY LOVE PIN, VOWS NEVER TO CHEAT AGAIN
On Sunday evening in Mexico, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was spotted wearing a heart-shaped gold pin on her dark suit — a pin, sources say, that was given to her by her husband with a vow that he would never cheat on her again! 
"It was a Valentine's Day gift," says a well-placed White House source traveling with the president. "He promised her that he will not hurt her anymore. The pin was a gift from his heart that came with a promise that he would remain faithful."
En route to Mexico, Mrs. Clinton walked through the press cabin aboard Air Force One and showed off the pin. But one reporter who witnessed Mrs. Clinton's walk through the cabin felt that the First Lady was deliberately displaying the pin to show that all is now well between her and her husband. "I think they were spinning us with all the fuss surrounding the pin," a network reporter e-mailed the DRUDGE REPORT from Mexico. "Monica's book is about to come out, and then the TV interview. I think they are trying hard to diffuse all of that." Also on the plane ride down to Mexico the president shared a huge box of candy with reporters. "Happy Valentine's Day," the president smiled.
    2001- The two astronauts from the space shuttle Atlantis took the 100th spacewalk; the first had been taken by American Edward White in 1965. On their excursion Thomas Jones and Robert Curbeam Jr. put the finishing touches on the International Space Station's new science lab Destiny.