Portal:United States/Anniversaries/February/February 8
- 1693 – The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II. It is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States after Harvard University.
- 1820 – William Tecumseh Sherman (pictured), the American Union Army general who was later recognized by military historians as "the first modern general", is born.
- 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
- 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
- 1922 – President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
- 1960 – The first eight brass star plaques are installed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On this day for the United States
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Events
- 1692 – A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, suggests that two girls in the family of the village minister may be suffering from bewitchment, leading to the Salem witch trials.
- 1693 – The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
- 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
- 1865 – In the United States, Delaware voters reject the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratifies the amendment on February 12, 1901.)
- 1887 – The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
- 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
- 1918 – The Stars and Stripes newspaper is published for the first time.
- 1922 – President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
- 1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
- 1963 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
- 1966 – The National Hockey League awards Pittsburgh a second NHL franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- 1968 – American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre, an attack that left three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on black students from South Carolina State University who were protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley.
- 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
- 1974 – After 84 days in space, the crew of the first American space station Skylab returns to Earth.
- 1978 – Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
- 1993 – 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.
- 1996 – The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
- 1996 – The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place.