Everything History

In an essay titled What Is Leadership?, Dwight Eisenhower wrote in 1948 that “Every leader should have enough humility to accept, publicly, the responsibility for the mistakes of the subordinates he has himself selected and, likewise, to give them credit, publicly, for their triumphs.”

On February 16, 1997, John F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to discuss his political magazine, “George.”

Unveiled two years earlier, Kennedy said he wanted the publication to serve at the intersection of politics and pop culture, with the slogan “Not Just Politics As Usual.”

Zangara missed Roosevelt but fatally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who was near his car. Cermak, Chicago’s first foreign-born mayor, died weeks later.

On February 15, 1933, just weeks before his inauguration, President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt in Miami, Florida.

Roosevelt had just delivered an impromptu speech to an assembled crowd when Giuseppe Zangara fired five shots at him.

On February 15, 1995, President Bill Clinton and former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford participated in the opening round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at Indian Wells Country Club in California.

In February 2010, Vice President Joe Biden led a U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

The meeting was their first and came as Washington sought to balance China’s growing influence in Asia through the administration’s “Pivot to Asia” policy, which aimed to shift resources and focus from the Middle East to the region.

On February 14, 2012, President Barack Obama hosted Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office.

At the time, Xi was the heir apparent to Chinese leader Hu Jintao.

On February 14, 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago.

The organization sought to promote civic education for women and was established just six months before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which prohibited states from denying women the right to vote.

He would go on to become one of the most powerful voices against slavery in the United States, declaring in 1857, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

Although he did not know his exact birth date, having been born into slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14.

Lumumba was the first democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He had been assassinated one month earlier, but news of his death was publicly disclosed only weeks later.

On February 13, 1961, President John F. Kennedy was photographed with his hand to his face as he learned by phone of the assassination of former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.

In 1838, a young Abraham Lincoln warned that if America were to lose its freedom, it would be due to internal erosion, stating, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

On February 12, 1999, President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate following a five-week impeachment trial on perjury and obstruction charges.

On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

He would go on to become the 16th president of the United States and lead the country through the Civil War.

On February 11, 1961, President John F. Kennedy was photographed in the Oval Office by The New York Times’ George Tames, capturing what would become one of the most enduring images of his presidency.

On February 11, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Janet Reno to serve as attorney general.

One month later, her nomination was unanimously approved by the Senate, making her the first woman to serve as America’s top law enforcement official.

On February 10, 1989, Ron Brown was elected chairman of the Democratic Party, becoming the first Black American to lead a major U.S. political party.

On February 10, 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to officially recognize February as National Black History Month.

In a formal message, Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans.”

On February 10, 2007, Senator Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president in Springfield, Illinois.

4/ He would be assassinated two months later.

3/ He added, “I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.”

2/ During a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, King instructed those who would deliver his eulogy: “Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important.”

1/ Speaking in February 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that upon his death, he did not want “a long funeral.”

🗃️ On February 9, 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama launched “Let’s Move!”, a nationwide initiative aimed at reducing childhood obesity and encouraging healthier lifestyles among America’s youth.

A 2014 CNN report documented the program’s progress on its four-year anniversary.

In February 1963, President John F. Kennedy addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Quoting Episcopal priest Phillips Brooks, Kennedy said, “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”

President Barack Obama watched Super Bowl XLIII in the White House Family Theater on February 1, 2009.

Attendees included administration officials and staff, as well as a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers would go on to win the game against the Arizona Cardinals, 27–23.

🗃️ On February 7, 2012, President Barack Obama hosted a school science fair at the White House, an event he made annual during his time in office.

Speaking to the children who participated, Obama said America was a nation of “tinkers and dreamers and believers in a better tomorrow.”

On February 7, 2006, President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter with his wife Rosalynn, Senator Hillary Clinton, and Senator Ted Kennedy joined in prayers at Coretta Scott King’s funeral in Lithonia, Georgia.