On February 19, 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama, and confined to Fort Stoddert. The treason trial of Aaron Burr in 1807 marked a pivotal and controversial moment in American history, revealing the fragility of the young…
Read More
On February 18, 2010, the transparency organization WikiLeaks began publishing the first in what would become one of the largest classified disclosures in American history — a torrent of U.S. government documents provided by the Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning. At…
Read More
On February 18, 1979, NASCAR had its coming-out party. For the first time, the Daytona 500 was broadcast live from start to finish on national television, and it delivered in spectacular fashion. Richard Petty took advantage of a dramatic last-lap wreck between Donnie Allison…
Read More
On February 17, 1944, U.S. forces launched a decisive assault on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, marking another critical step in the Central Pacific drive toward Japan. The operation—part of a broader campaign following the capture of Kwajalein earlier that month—reflected the…
Read More
The presidential election of 1800 was one of the most pivotal and contentious moments in American political history, revealing both the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s young electoral system. The contest between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both representing the Democratic-Republican Party, resulted…
Read More
On February 17, 1820, hoping to end the question of the future of slavery in the United States, Congress introduced the Missouri Compromise. Henry Clay, a prominent statesman, orchestrated the compromise with the intent of preserving harmony in the Union by delicately balancing the…
Read More
On February 16, 1959, Fidel Castro formally assumed the office of Prime Minister of Cuba, six weeks after the flight of Fulgencio Batista ended his military-backed regime. Batista had ruled Cuba as an elected president in the early 1940s. But after seizing power in…
Read More
On February 16, 1923, British archaeologist Howard Carter opened the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, marking a landmark moment in Egyptology. This breakthrough was the result of years of excavation in the Valley of the Kings, driven by Carter’s firm belief that the tomb…
Read More
On February 15, 1933, in Miami, a single handgun cracked through the warm evening air and altered the course of American political history. The target was President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. The man who would die instead was Anton J. Cermak, the sitting mayor of…
Read More
The Allied bombing of Dresden, culminating on February 15, 1945, remains one of the most debated military operations of World War II. Over four air raids between February 13 and 15, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces launched…
Read More
