On February 9, 474 – Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
On February 9, 1555 – Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.
On February 9, 1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
On February 9, 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares
Massachusetts in rebellion.
On February 9, 1788 – The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War in the Russian camp.
On February 9, 1825 – After no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States.
On February 9, 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
On February 9, 1870 – The U.S. Weather Bureau is established.
On February 9, 1885 – The first Japanese government-approved immigrants arrive in Hawaii.
On February 9, 1889 – The United States Department of Agriculture is established as a Cabinet-level agency.
On February 9, 1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
On February 9, 1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal
meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
On February 9, 1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a
wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
On February 9, 1943 – World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial
Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.
On February 9, 1950 – Second Red Scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States
Department of State of being filled with Communists.
On February 9, 1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show,
performing before a “record-busting” audience of 73 million viewers.
On February 9, 1965 – Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South
Vietnam.
On February 9, 1969 – First test flight of the Boeing 747.
On February 9, 1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
On February 9, 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.
On February 9, 1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
On February 9, 1995 – Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks.
On February 9, 1996 – The Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month ceasefire shortly followed by the explosion of a large bomb in London’s Canary Wharf.
On February 9, 2001 – The American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the Ehime-Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.
Born on February 9:
1748 – Luther Martin, American patriot (d. 1826)
1773 – William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
1839 – Silas Adams, American lawyer and politician (d. 1896)
1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German automotive designer (d. 1929)
1909 – Dean Rusk, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
1934 – John Ziegler, former NHL Commissioner
1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor
1963 – Travis Tritt, American singer
1981 – John Walker Lindh, American Taliban fighter
Today in Alaska history:
1883 The McFarland Home for Girls, a Presbyterian institution, burned to the ground.
1901 A press dispatch dated November 6, 1900, wired from New York to Fort Egbert, and then mailed on November 8th, finally reached Nome , informing residents that William McKinley had been elected President.
1959 The U.S. Army dropped its plans to use the Talkeetna Mountains as a long-range missile range.
1959 A recovering Gov. Bill Egan received his first visitors in a Seattle hospital following gall bladder surgery.
1959 Members of the Legislature proposed a $20,000 annual salary for the Governor.
1966 The Archdiocese of Anchorage was established.
1973 Using a 53-year old mining law regarding right-of-way, environmental groups won a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judgment, stalling construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline .