On this day in History - Feb. 29

1468 - Pope Paul III was born (d. 1549)
1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
1528 - Patrick Hamilton dies martyred (b. 1504). Scottish religious reformer.
1592 - Alessandro Striggio dies (b. 1540). Italian composer.
1604 - John Whitgift dies (b. 1530). Archbishop of Canterbury.
1692 - John Byrom was born (d. 1763). English poet.
1704 - Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
1724 - Eva Marie Veigel was born (d. 1822). Ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick.
1736 - Ann Lee was born (d. 1784). American founder of Shakers.
1740 - Pietro Ottoboni dies (b. 1667). Italian cardinal.
1744 - John Theophilus Desaguliers dies (b. 1683). French philosopher.
1820 - Johann Joachim Eschenburg dies (b. 1743). German literary critic.
1836 - Pietro Blaserna was born († 1918). Italian mathematician and physicist.
1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails - Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
1868 - Ludwig I of Bavaria dies (b. 1786)
1875 - Giuseppe Vitali dies (b. 1875). Italian mathematician.
1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida incorporated.
1896 - Morarji Desai was born (d. 1995). Prime Minister of India.
1896 - William A. Wellman was born (d. 1975). American film director.
1904 - Jimmy Dorsey was born (d. 1957). American bandleader.
1904 - Pepper Martin was born (d. 1965). Baseball player.
1904 - Rukmini Devi Arundale was born (d. 1986). Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra.
1908 - Balthus was born (d. 2001). French-Polish painter.
1908 - Dee Brown was born (d. 2002). American writer.
1908 - Alf Gover was born (d. 2001). English cricketer.
1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
1916 - Dinah Shore was born (d. 1994). American singer.
1920 - Arthur Franz was born (d. 2006). American actor.
1920 - James Mitchell was born. American actor.
1920 - Michèle Morgan was born. French actress.
1920 - Howard Nemerov was born (d. 1991). American poet.
1924 - Al Rosen was born. American baseball player.
1924 - David Beattie was born. New Zealand Governour General
1924 - Carlos Humberto Romero was born. President of El Salvador
1928 - Joss Ackland was born. English actor
1928 - Tempest Storm was born. American burlesque performer
1928 - Ina Coolbrith dies (b. 1841). First poet laureate of California.
1932 - TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
1932 - Jaguar was born. Brazilian cartoonist.
1932 - Gene Golub was born (d. 2007). American mathematician.
1932 - Masten Gregory was born (d. 1985). American F1 Driver.
1936 - Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
1936 - Jack Lousma was born. Astronaut.
1936 - Henri Richard was born. Canadian hockey player.
1936 - Alex Rocco was born. American actor.
1940 - For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award. The movie Gone with the wind won eight Oscars
1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.
1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives his 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from the Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
1940 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople was born.
1940 - William H. Turner, Jr. was born. American horse trainer.
1940 - Edward Frederic Benson dies (b. 1867). English writer.
1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.
1944 - Phyllis Frelich was born. American actress
1944 - Dennis Farina was born. American actor
1944 - Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri was born. Italian illustrator
1944 - Ene Ergma was born. Estonian politician
1944 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud dies (b. 1861). President of Finland.
1948 - Jirō Akagawa was born. Japanese novelist
1952 - The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
1952 - Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush was born. American television personality
1952 - Tim Powers was born. American writer
1952 - Raisa Smetanina was born. Russian cross-country skier.
1952 - Bart Stupak was born. American politician.
1956 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
1956 - Jonathan Coleman was born. Anglo-Australian entertainer.
1956 - Bob Speller was born. Canadian politician.
1956 - Aileen Wuornos was born (d. 2002). American serial killer.
1956 - J. Randy Taraborrelli was born. American celebritiy journalist.
1956 - Elpidio Quirino dies (b. 1890). President of the Philippines
1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
1960 - Ian McKenzie Anderson was born. British musician.
1960 - Khaled was born. Algerian raï musician.
1960 - Richard Ramirez was born. American serial killer.
1960 - Tony Robbins was born. American motivational speaker.
1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
1964 - Lyndon Byers was born. Canadian hockey player and Boston radio personality.
1964 - Jahred Shane was born. Afro-Brazilian rapper/singer of (həd) p.e.
1964 - Frank Albertson dies (b. 1909). American actor.
1968 - Chucky Brown was born. American basketball player.
1968 - Pete Fenson was born. American curler.
1968 - Naoko Iijima was born. Japanese actress.
1968 - Gonzalo Lira was born. Chilean-American novelist.
1968 - Bryce Paup was born. American football player.
1968 - Wendi Peters was born. British actress.
1968 - Tore Ørjasæter dies (b. 1886). Norwegian poet.
1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
1972 - Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
1972 - Antonio Sabàto, Jr. was born. Italian-born actor.
1972 - Dave Williams was born (d. 2002). American singer (Drowning Pool).
1972 - Saul Williams was born. American rapper, poet, and actor.
1972 - Pedro Zamora was born (d. 1994). Cuban-born American AIDS activist.
1976 - Ja Rule was born. American rapper and actor.
1976 - Emma Barton was born. British actress.
1980 - Simon Gagné was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
1980 - Taylor Twellman was born. American soccer player.
1980 - Clinton Toopi was born. Rugby league player.
1980 - Chris Conley was born. American musician.
1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
1984 - Cam Ward was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
1984 - Darren Ambrose was born. English footballer.
1984 - Adam Sinclair was born. Indian hockey player.
1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
1988 - Portugal : First radio emission of TSF.
1988 - Scott Golbourne was born. English footballer.
1992 - Ruth Pitter dies (b. 1897). English poet.
1996 - Novelist Joan Collins awarded US $1 million from Random House for breach of contract.
1996 - A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
2000 - Six year old Dedrick Owens shoots and kills Kayla Rolland, also six years old, at Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan.
2000 - Dennis Danell dies (b. 1961). American artist.
2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
2004 - Jerome Lawrence dies (b. 1915). American playwright.
Bahá'í Faith - Day 4 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) (in leap years only) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
Discordianism - St. Tib's Day.