1536: Anglican priest William Tyndale was captured at Antwerp where he was strangled and burnt. He is credited with making the first English translation of the Bible.
1683: The first Mennonites arrived in America aboard the Concord. The German and Dutch families settled in an area that is now a neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA.
1846: Inventor George Westinghouse was born. He was the founder of Westinghouse Electric Company and invented railway braking systems.
1847: "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte was first published in London.
1848: The steamboat SS California left New York Harbor for San Francisco via Cape Horn. The steamboat service arrived on February 28, 1849. The trip took 4 months and 21 days.
1857: The American Chess Congress held their first national chess tournament in New York City.
1863: The first Turkish bath was opened in Brooklyn, NY, by Dr. Charles Shepard.
1866: The Reno Brothers pulled the first train robbery in America near Seymour, IN. The got away with $10,000.
1880: The National League kicked the Cincinnati Reds out for selling beer.
1884: The Naval War College was established in Newport, RI.
1889: In Paris, the Moulin Rouge opened its doors to the public for the first time.
1889: The Kinescope was exhibited by Thomas Edison. He had patented the moving picture machine in 1887.
1890: Polygamy was outlawed by the Mormon Church.
1927: "The Jazz Singer" opened in New York starring Al Jolson. The film was based on the short story "The Day of Atonement" by Sampson Raphaelson.
1928: War-torn China was reunited under the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek.
1937: "Hobby Lobby" debuted on CBS radio.
1939: Adolf Hitler denied any intention to wage war against Britain and France in an address to Reichstag.
1948: "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.
1949: Iva Toguri D'Aquino was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000 for war crimes. The conviction was for being Japanese wartime broadcaster "Tokyo Rose."
1949: U.S. president Harry Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act. The act provided $1.3 billion in the form of military aid to NATO countries.
1954: E.L. Lyon became the first male nurse for the U.S. Army.
1961: U.S. president John F. Kennedy advised American families to build or buy bomb shelters to protect them in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.
1962: Robert Goulet began the role of Sir Lancelot in "Camelot".
1972: South of Saltillo, Mexico, a train derailed killing 208 people and injuring 1,200.
1973: Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territory that had been lost in the third Arab-Israel war. Support for Israel led to a devastating oil embargo against many nations including the U.S. and Great Britain on October 17, 1973. The war lasted 2 weeks.
1979: Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the White House.
1981: Egyptian president Anwar-el Sadat was assassinated at a military rally in Cairo. Muslim extremists were responsible the other eight deaths that occurred during the attack. Hosni Mubarak became president.
1986: A Soviet nuclear submarine sank in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,200 miles from New York.
1989: Two workers for the Swiss Red Cross were kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon.
1991: Elizabeth Taylor married Larry Fortensky. The ceremony was held at Michael Jackson's estate near Los Angeles, CA. It was Taylor's 8th marriage and Fortensky's 3rd.
1991: Cable News Network aired a videotape of American hostage Terry Anderson that had been made in Beirut, Lebanon.
1992: Ross Perot appeared in his first paid broadcast on CBS-TV after entering the U.S. presidential race.
1998: Imelda Marcos was acquitted by the Philippine Supreme Court on the charge of graft. The ruling overturned the guilty verdict that had been found in 1993.
