February 9
474 –
Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1775 –
American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts [to be] in rebellion.
1825 – After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in
the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects
John Quincy Adams as the sixth President of the United States.
1861 – American Civil War:
Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the
Confederate Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the
U.S. Weather Bureau.
1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the
United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as
volleyball.
1913 – A
group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
1941 – World War II: The
Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy is struck by a bomb, which fails to detonate.
1942 – Year-round
Daylight Saving Time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
1943 – World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the
Battle of Guadalcanal.
1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator
Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.
1964 –
The Beatles make their first appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers across the USA.
1965 – The United States Marine Corps sends a
MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
1971 –
Satchel Paige becomes the first
Negro League player to be voted into the USA's
Baseball Hall of Fame.
1986 –
Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
1991 –
Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
Births
1737 – Thomas Paine; 1773 – William Henry Harrison (9th POTUS); 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach (of the Mercedes tuning Maybachs); 1874 – Amy Lowell; 1901 – Brian Donlevy (
Beau Geste); 1909 – Heather Angel (
Hound of the Baskervilles); 1909 – Carmen Miranda♪ ♫; 1909 – Dean Rusk; 1914 –
Ernest Tubb♪ ♫; 1922 – Kathryn Grayson (
Showboat, Anchors Aweigh, Kiss Me Kate); 1928 –
Frank Frazetta

; 1928 – Roger Mudd; 1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong; 1941 – Sheila Kuehl ('Zelda' on
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis); 1942 – Carole King♪ ♫; 1943 – Joe Pesci; 1945 – Mia Farrow; 1947 – Joe Ely♪ ♫; 1947 – Major Harris♪ ♫; 1949 – Judith Light (
Who's the Boss?); 1953 – Ciarán Hinds; 1955 – Charles Shaughnessy (
The Nanny); 1960 – Holly Johnson♪ ♫(Frankie Goes To Hollywood); 1963 – Travis Tritt♪ ♫; 1976 – Charlie Day (
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia); 1981 – Tom Hiddleston; 1987 – Michael B. Jordan (
Fantastic Four, Creed)
Deaths
1555 – John Hooper; 1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky (
The Brothers Karamazov, Crime & Punishment); 1969 – George "Gabby" Hayes; 1981 – Bill Haley♪ ♫; 1984 – Yuri Andropov; 1995 – David Wayne (
The Tender Trap, The Andromeda Strain); 2005 – Robert Kearns (invented the windscreen wiper); 2007 – Ian Richardson (
House of Cards (British series), Grey Poupon commercials); 2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison (invented the Frisbee); 2012 – Joe Moretti♪ ♫; 2015 – Ed Sabol (co-founded NFL Films)