Today in {Disney} History...2/15

399 BC: Socrates is sentenced to death in Athens.

590: Khosrau II, the last great Sasanian king is crowned King of Persia.

1564: Galileo Galilei, the Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician is born!

1637: Ferdinand II dies.

1763: Austria, Prussia and Saxony sign the Treaty of Hubertusburg, marking the end of the French and Indian War and the Seven Years' War.

1710: Louis XV, the King of France is born!

1757: Henry Addington dies.

1758: Mustard is advertised for the first time in America! 

1764: The city of St. Louis was established.

1776: Nova Scotia governor sends word of potential American invasion.

1809: Cyrus McCormick is born! He is credited as the inventor of the mechanical reaper which revolutionized agriculture and harvested crops efficiently. Although, it should be recognized that he was a slaveholder and he did use the *help* of enslaved persons. While the reaper made harvesting "easier" it brought with it increased difficulty for enslaved field workers as it was nearly impossible to keep up with the horse-drawn apparatus and led to an increase in number of enslaved workers.

1820: Susan B. Anthony is born! She was an amazing human, a social reformer who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement as president of the National Woman Suffrage Association and her work paved the way for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.

1835: Alexander Stewart Webb is born! Webb was a career officer in the U.S. Army and a Union general in the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg.

1842: Adhesive postage stamps were used for the first time by the City Dispatch Post (Office) in New York City.

1856: A ship carrying 65 camels departed from Tunis, North Africa, for Indianola, TX. The military wanted to test the usefulness of camels in transporting supplies in West Texas.

1861: In Montgomery, Alabama, the Confederate Congress decided that Fort Sumter and other forts must be acquired by any means.

1861: Alfred Whitehead is born! Mathematician and philosopher best known for his work on Principia Mathematica.

1862: Confederates try to break out of the Yankee perimeter at Fort Donelson. The Fort fell to Union General Ulysses S. Grant the next day.

1862: Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley ordered his men to cross the Rio Grande and capture the Val Verde fords in an attempt to cut off Union Colonel Edward R. S. Canby's communication. This was the beginning of the Battle of Val Verde.

1874: Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton is born! He was an Anglo-Irish explorer of Antarctica who attempted to reach the South Pole.

1876: The present day Texas state constitution was adopted.

1879: U.S. President Hayes signed a bill that allowed female attorneys to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

1882: John Barrymore is born! Brother to Lionel and and Ethel, and grandfather to Drew Barrymore. Extravagant (and alcoholic) actor, part of an acting dynasty, one of the foremost actors of his generation.

1898: U.S.S. Maine is attacked and destroyed in Havana harbor, killing 260 American seamen and leading to the Spanish-American War.

1899: Lillian Marie Bounds (the wife of Walt Disney) is born in Spalding, Idaho. She grew up in Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nex Perce Indian Reservation. In 1923 she moved to California where she worked at the Disney Studios, first as a secretary, then as an ink artist. She married Disney on the 13th of July, 1925 and they remained married until his death 41 years later. 

1903: Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants, introduced the first teddy bear in America.

1907: Cesar Romero is born! In addition to the Joker on Batman in the 1960s, he was the rogue bandit The Cisco Kid in a string of low-budget westerns....but his Disney credits include The Computer wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now you See Him, Now You Don't (1972), The Strongest Man in the World (1975) and was also cast as de La Cruz on Disney's Zorro tv series. Romero was also one of the many celebrities who took part in Wal Disney World's three-day opening festivities in October 1971.

1927: Harvey Korman is born! A comedic veteran, Korman's Disney credits include an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the live-action feature Herbie Goes Bananas, the television serials The Adventures of Gallegher & the two-part Emil and the Detectives and an episode of the animated Hercules series. In 1989 he co-starred in the short-lived Touchstone TV sitcom The Nutt House, playing the role of ReginaldTarkington. In 1989, Korman greeted Walt Disney World's 300-millionthguest at the gates of Disney-MGM. (Fans of the sketch comedy series The Carol Burnett Show will remember him as a long-time member of her talented cast. Flintstones fans will recall Korman as the voice of The Great Gazoo.

1932: George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "The Guy Lombardo Show" on CBS radio.

1933: U.S. President FDR escapes assassination attempt.

1942: Amid WWII, Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.

1948: Academy Award nominations are announced, with Disney receiving four. (For a really well written and informative perspective on the Song of the South and the controversy surrounding it's problematic existence, please consider reading the paper written at this link.)

• Song of the South-Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture
• 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah' from the film Song of the South-Best Music, Song
• Pluto's Blue Note and Chip an' Dale-Best Short Subjects, Cartoons

1950: Walt Disney's animated feature Cinderella opens in theatres across the United States. Taking 6 years to make, Cinderella became of Disney's best-loved films and one of the highest grossing features of 1950 and ends up being nominated for 3 Academy Awards. This was the 12th in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, but overall the 16th feature film to be released and it is said to be based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault.

1953: The first American to win the women’s world figure skating championship was 17-year-old Tenley Albright.

1954: Disney receives six Academy Award nominations for:

• Rugged Bear and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom-Best Short Subjects, Cartoons
• Bear Country and Ben and Me-Best Short Subjects, Two Reels
• The Alaskan Eskimo-Best Documentary, Short Subjects
• The Living Desert-Best Documentary, Features

1967: Longest dream (REM sleep) on record, Bill Carskadon, Chicago (2:23)

1965: Canada officially adopts the Maple Leaf Flag.

1965: Nat King Cole dies.

1978: Leon Spinks defeats Muhammad Ali to become the heavy weight boxing champion of the world.

1984: Ethel Merman dies.

1989: Who Framed Roger Rabbit is nominated for six Academy Awards.

1989: Soviet military troops leave Afghanistan after occupying the country since 1979.

2003: Approximately 6-11 million people around the world take to the streets to protest against the war with Iraq.

2006: Mount Everest arrives in New York's Times Square as part of a publicity stunt to promote Expedition Everest Adventure, a new thrill ride soon to open at Animal Kingdom. 

2011: American Poet, author, actress, filmmaker, educator and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. 

2023: Raquel Welch dies.