02/18/2025
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This Day In History archive

1873 – “Celluloid” registered as a trademark by its inventor John Wesley Hyatt.

1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition lands on the Ross Ice Shelf.

1919 – John McGrew, Charles A. Stoneman and Francis Xavier McQuade buy baseball’s New York Giants.

1936 – L.M. (Mario) Giannini elected President of Bank of America.

1940 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis gives free agency to 91 Detroit Tigers minor league players.

1943 – World War II: Casablanca Conference begins between Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other Allied representatives in Morocco.

1946 – 1946 NFL Draft: Frank Dancewicz from the University of Notre Dame is the first pick by the Boston Yanks.

1952 – “Today Show” premieres with Dave Garroway and Jack Lescoulie on NBC-TV.

1956 – Little Richard releases single “Tutti Frutti.”

1960 – Army promotes Elvis Presley to Sergeant.

1963 – George Wallace sworn in as Governor of Alabama. His address states “segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever!”

1969 – 25 members of aircraft carrier Enterprise die during maneuvers.

1976 – Ted Turner becomes CEO of baseball’s Atlanta Braves.

1979 – President Jimmy Carter proposes Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday be a federal holiday.

1985 – Martina Navratilova is third player to win 100 tennis tournaments, joining Jimmy Conners and Chris Evert.

1987 – Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Billy Williams are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1995 – Mexico pledges profits from state-owned Pemex’s $7 billion per year oil revenues in an effort to secure United States congressional approval of loan guarantees. President Bill Clinton approves a $20 billion U.S. aid package for Mexico.

2008 – MESSENGER spacecraft performs a Mercury flyby.

2016 – Sixth Republican presidential candidates debate hosted by Fox, held in Charleston, South Carolina.

2020 – Game show Jeopardy’s “greatest of all time” tournament won by Ken Jennings.

2021 – Secret Services takes control of Joe Biden’s inauguration as 20,000 troops are authorized to guard Washington, D.C., more than those stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia.

Sonny Jones
Author: Sonny Jones

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