On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time, giving rise to Beatlemania.
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On Feb. 7, 1817, Frederick Douglass, the American abolitionist leader, was born. Following his death on Feb. 20, 1895, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
| 1812 | Author Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England. |
|---|---|
| 1944 | Germany launched a counteroffensive at Anzio, Italy, during World War II. |
| 1962 | President John F. Kennedy imposed a full trade embargo on Cuba.. |
| 1974 | The island nation of Grenada won independence from Britain. |
| 1984 | Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered space walk. |
| 1986 | Haitian President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled his country, ending 28 years of family rule. |
| 1990 | The Soviet Union's Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power by agreeing to let other political parties compete for control of the country. |
| 1991 | Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti's first democratically elected president. |
| 1992 | European Community members signed the Maastricht Treaty, which led to creation of the euro. |
| 1995 | Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan. |
| 1999 | Jordan's King Hussein died at age 63. |
| 2011 | AOL Inc. announced the $315 million purchase of The Huffington Post website. |
| 2012 | A federal appeals court ruled California's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. |
Historic Birthdays
Frederick Douglass
2/7/1817 - 2/20/1895
American black abolitionist.Go to obituary »
| 58 |
St. Thomas More 2/7/1478 - 7/6/1535 English humanist/chancellor |
|---|---|
| 82 |
John Deere 2/7/1804 - 5/17/1886 American inventor of agricultural implements |
| 58 |
Charles Dickens 2/7/1812 - 6/9/1870 English novelist |
| 84 |
Gardner Quincy Colton 2/7/1814 - 8/9/1898 American anesthetist/inventor |
| 78 |
Sir James Murray 2/7/1837 - 7/26/1915 Scottish lexicographer/editor |
| 90 |
Laura Ingalls Wilder 2/7/1867 - 2/10/1957 American author of children's fiction |
| 67 |
Alfred Adler 2/7/1870 - 5/28/1937 Austrian physician/psychologist |
| 100 |
Eubie Blake 2/7/1883 - 2/12/1983 American pianist/composer |
| 65 |
Sinclair Lewis 2/7/1885 - 1/10/1951 American novelist/social critic |
| 73 |
Buster Crabbe 2/7/1908 - 4/23/1983 American swimmer/actor |
| 79 |
Ruth Sager 2/7/1918 - 3/29/1997 American geneticist |