02/18/2025
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This Day In History archive

1799 – George Washington is eulogized by Colonel Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in hearts of his countrymen.”

1854 – Wood pulp paper is first exhibited in Buffalo, New York.

1908 – African-American boxer Jack Johnson stops Canadian defending champion Tommy Burns in the 14th round in Sydney, Australia, to become the first black man to win the world heavyweight title. Burns was favored in his 12th title defense, but Johnson dominated before police stopped the bout.

1914 – United States government protests British interference with American merchant ships at sea on the same day Germans announce they will treat food as contraband subject to seizure which weakens America’s protest.

1919 – New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox reach agreement to move future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher and slugger Babe Ruth to New York.

1928 – Johnny Weissmuller announces his retirement from amateur swimming.

1933 – FM radio patent granted to American engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong.

1941 – Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that Axis would “stop at nothing.”

1947 – Heavy snow blankets Northeast, buries New York City under 25.8 inches in 16 hours. That same day, Los Angeles set a record high of 84 degrees.

1954 – “The Shadow” aired for the last time on radio.

1963 – The Beatles released “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” in the United States.

1971 – Muhammad Ali finishes off German Jürgen Blin with a thundering right cross for a 7th-round knockout in a non-title, heavyweight boxing contest in Zurich, Switzerland.

1973 – Two Skylab 3 astronauts walk in space for a record seven hours.

1982 – TIME’s Man of the Year is a computer.

1991 – Future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll retires as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He became head coach in 1969.

1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado.

2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) record one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts.

2012 – China opens the world’s longest high speed rail route of almost 1,500 miles from Beijing to Guangzhou.

2019 – Annular solar eclipse visible from south and southeast Asia.

2023 – The Detroit Pistons suffer a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets at home to set an NBA single-season record with their 27th straight defeat.

Sonny Jones
Author: Sonny Jones

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