0704 Rome, History: Per the Gregorian calendar This was the first leap day in a leap year.
1848 Neuchâtel, History: The principality of Neuchâtel declared its independence from Prussia. By matrimony, treaty, and conquest Prussia once extend from Königsberg in what is now Russia to Neuchâtel in Switzerland in a loose confederation. On a map it looked like an archipelago. Went to Neuchâtel once in pursuit of an autograph manuscript from the hand of Jean-Jacques Rousseau which I was permitted to hold in my hand.
1868 London, Politics: Benjamin Disraeli formed his first government. Is he the only British Prime Minister to write novels? Never read any myself.
1904 Washington, D.C., Politics: President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a commission to oversee the construction of a canal at the Isthmus of Panama. Completed ten years later, it cut shipping time between the East and West coasts by two-thirds, and offered a much less hazardous route than around the Cape Horn off Tierra del Fuego and the Roaring Forties.
1940 Hollywood, Entertainment: Kansas-born Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for ‘Gone with the Wind,’ the first black to earn such an award. She edged out Olivia de Havilland, who did not take it well.
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