Historical Events on February 19

  • 1846: The newly established Texas State Government is installed in the city of Austin, Texas. The official powers of the Republic of Texas are transferred to the State of Texas after it was annexed by the U.S.
  • 1859: A New York Congressman – Daniel E. Sickles – is acquitted of murder on the grounds of temporary insanity. This will be the first time this defense is used successfully in the U.S.
  • 1878: The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.
  • 1884: One of the biggest tornado outbreaks in United States history occurs when over 60 tornadoes hit the Southern U.S.
  • 1942: Almost two hundred and fifty Imperial Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia. This attack results in the death of over 240 people.
  • 1942: Executive Order 9066 is signed by U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This order allowed the U.S military to relocate Japanese-Americans to special internment camps.
  • 1943: In Tunisia, the Battle of Kasserine Pass begins during World War II.
  • 1945: Approximately thirty thousand U.S Marines land on Iwo Jima during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
  • 1949: The 1st Bollingen Prize in Poetry is given to Ezra Pound by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
  • 1953: The first literature censorship board in the U.S is approved by Georgia.
  • 1960: The T-7 is launched by China.
  • 1985: William J. Schroeder goes down in the history books as the first person to get an artificial heart and leave the hospital.

Famous Birthdays on February 19

  • American actor Lee Marvin is born in 1924.
  • American poet Frederick Seidel is born in 1936.
  • American singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson is born in 1940.
  • American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, David Gross is born in 1941.
  • English biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Tim Hunt is born in 1943.
  • American actor Jeff Daniels is born in 1955.
  • American actress Kathleen Beller is born in 1956.
  • American biologist and Nobel Prize laureate, Roderick MacKinnon is born in 1956.
  • English actress and model, Millie Bobby Brown is born in 2004.