History Events on February 08
General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.
#General_Motors
Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
#Constantius_III
The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
#NASDAQ
Las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.
#Juan_Gregorio_de_las_Heras
Leiden University is founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis.
#Leiden_University
After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
#Outer_space
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.
#Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_663
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I and the revolt is quickly crushed.
#Robert_Devereux,_2nd_Earl_of_Essex
The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
#Dawes_Act
A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.
#2014_Medina_hotel_fire
Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport (Azores) killing all 144 passengers on board.
#Independent_Air_Flight_1851
World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
#World_War_II
Aceh War: Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch military campaign to capture Gayo Highland, Alas Highland, and Batak Highland in Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, which ends with genocide to Acehnese and Bataks people.
#Aceh_War
Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
#United_States_Senate
Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens F.C.
#Association_football
Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
#Cuba
The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq, Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
#Prime_Minister_of_Iraq
Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
#Battle_of_Port_Arthur
Cold War: The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
#Cold_War
The first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published.
#Revised_Standard_Version
The Government of Sindh, Pakistan, abolishes the Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km2) of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
#Sindh
Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
#Mary,_Queen_of_Scots
South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.
#Army_of_the_Republic_of_Vietnam
A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.
#Hindu_Kush
United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House.
#Warren_G._Harding
World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commence Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine.
#Operation_Veritable
The first government-approved Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii.
#Japanese_in_Hawaii
Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
#Richard_Mentor_Johnson
The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
#Mongol_Empire
The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
#United_States_Congress
D. W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
#D._W._Griffith
Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
#Sandford_Fleming
World War II: Dutch Colonial Army General Destruction Unit (AVC, Algemene Vernielings Corps) burns Banjarmasin, South Borneo to avoid Japanese capture.
#Royal_Netherlands_East_Indies_Army
Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.
#Seventh_Crusade
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP A. Chandranehru dies of injuries sustained in an ambush the previous day.
#Sri_Lankan_Civil_War
Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was outlawed in the United States, including Delaware, when the Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 6, 1865. Delaware ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 12, 1901, which was the ninety-second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
#Delaware