Valentine’s Day Happenings:
It was during the Roman Empire that St. Valentine is said to have left a note to his jailer’s daughter, “From your Valentine” before his execution on February 14. Today, cards expressing one’s heartfelt emotions, a. k. a. valentines, are given to that special someone. —Smithsonian.com
1537—King Henry VIII declared, by Royal Charter, that all England would celebrate February 14 as "Saint Valentine's Day" and with the passage of time, February 14 became the traditional date for exchanging love messages and simple gifts (such as flowers or candy)
1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time
1779—Captain James Cook, the great English explorer and surveyor in the Royal Navy, was murdered by natives of Hawaii during his third visit to the Pacific island group
1803—Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, John Marshall, declares that any act of U.S. Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void
1808 – John Dickinson, American lawyer, politician, and 5th Governor of Delaware, died ( born, 1732)
1818—Frederick Douglass was born
1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
1868—Valentine's Day chocolate boxes were introduced by Richard Cadbury, founder of Cadbury's Cocoa and Chocolate Company.
1876—Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent of the telephone.
1885—Ellen Lovenberg Lindbaum was born.
1891—William Tecumseh Sherman dies, New York City
1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
1908—John Leroy Conner was born.
1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th U. S. state.
1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded.
1924—The International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation was founded.
1929--Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago.
1929 –Sir Alexander Fleming left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered, and noticed the mold had killed much of the bacteria. He identified the mold as penicillium notatum, and shortened the name to Penicillin.
1943 – World War II: Russia is liberated.
1957—The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is founded, with Martin Luther King as its leader.
1962—First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a famous tour of the White House.
1967—Aretha Franklin records "Respect”.
1971—Richard Nixon installs a secret taping system in the White House.
1976—U.S. performs a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1980—The 13th Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, New York
1990—Voyager I took a picture of the entire solar system .
2000—NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to orbit around an asteroid, 433 Eros.
2003—“Dolly”, the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized because of incurable lung cancer.
2005—YouTube is launched by a group of college students...eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world.
2012—Love letters written between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning are published online by Wellesley College and Baylor University.
2016 Happy Valentine's Day!