On this day …

On+this+day+...

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February 21, 2015

  • In 1808, without a declaration of war, Russian troops crossed the border into Sweden, starting a conflict that resulted in Sweden losing the eastern half of the country (land that would become Finland).
  • In 1842, John Greenough was granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
  • In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.
  • In 1874, the Oakland Daily Tribune began publication in California.
  • In 1878, the first telephone directory was issued in New Haven, Conn.
  • In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
  • In 1925, The New Yorker magazine published its first issue.
  • In 1958, the peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, was designed by Gerald Holtom.
  • In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.
  • In 1975, former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Watergate scandal.