Today is Saturday, February 19, the 50th day of 2011. There are 315 days left in the year.
1674 ― Netherlands and England sign Peace of Westminster (NYC becomes English)
1797 ― One third of papal domain ceded to France
1861 ― Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom
1878 ― Thomas A. Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph)
1923 ― Jean Sibelius' 6th Symphony, premieres
1942 ― FDR orders detention and internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans
1945 ― 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in two days
1955 ― South East Asia Collective Defense Treaty goes into effect
1963 ― USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba
1987 ―Anti-smoking ad airs for first time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner