---

There are many events that happened on this date in history. Here are just a few of them!

February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 325 days remain until the end of the year (326 in leap years).

EVENTS

1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.

1778 – Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

1825 – After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as sixth President of the United States in a contingent election.

1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama

1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.

1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.

1893 – Verdi's last opera, Falstaff premieres at La Scala, Milan.

1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.

1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.

1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.

1941 – World War II: Bombing of Genoa: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.

1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.

1961 – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg.

1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States.

1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.

1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.

1986 – Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.

2018 – Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.

2021 – Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins.

BIRTHS

1737 – Thomas Paine, English-American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 1809)

1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)

1891 – Ronald Colman, English-American actor (d. 1958)

1909 – Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)

1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)

1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (d. 2010)

1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (d. 2003)

1939 – Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer

1942 – Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist

1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor

1944 – Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet

1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and model

1949 – Judith Light, American actress

1955 – Charles Shaughnessy, English actor

1956 – Phil Ford, American basketball player and coach

1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor

DEATHS

1555 – Rowland Taylor, English priest and martyr (b. 1510)

1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American general and gunsmith (b. 1706)

1951 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (b. 1910)

1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (b. 1884)

1969 – George "Gabby" Hayes, American actor and singer (b. 1885)

1976 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1908)

1981 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)

1995 – David Wayne, American actor (b. 1914)

2013 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (b. 1923)

2018 – John Gavin, American actor and United States ambassador to Mexico (b. 1931)

2021 – Chick Corea, American jazz composer (b. 1941)

---

---