February 19 - What happened today?

Home What happened today in history? Blamepro's Almanac for February 19
In the headlines today:

2003	On-stage pyrotechnics start a fire that kills nearly a hundred spectators attending a performance by the metal band Great White, in West Warwick, RI.
1999	US president Bill Clinton grants a posthumous pardon to Henry Flipper, the first black West Point graduate, reversing Flipper's racially-motivated discharge.
1997	Chinese Communist revolutionary Deng Xiaoping dies.
1996	Former Oakland A's owner and master showman Charlie Finlay dies in Chicago at age 77.
1986	The US Senate votes to outlaw genocide, an act that took 37 years to ratify.
1985	Cherry Coke is introduced by the Coca-Cola Company.
1959	Britain, Greece, and Turkey agree to grant independence to the island nation of Cyprus.
1945	A US invasion force of 30,000 marines land at Iwo Jima, starting a month-long WWII battle against Japanese troops.
1942	Darwin, Australia, is attacked by Japanese warplanes during WWII.
1942	US president Franklin D. Roosevelt grants authority for the military to intern Japanese-Americans during WWII.
1881	Kansas prohibits all alcoholic beverages.
1878	Thomas Edison receives a patent for his cylinder record player (forerunner of the "modern day" phonograph).
1864	The Knights of Pythias is founded in Washington, DC.
1846	Austin, TX, begins operation as that state's capital.