History Thread...

[CMRivdogs]

February 22

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-22?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2026-0222-02222026&om_rid=

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In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, on February 22, 1980, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeats the four-time defending gold-medal winning Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. The Soviet squad, previously regarded as the finest in the world, fell to the youthful American team 4-3 before a frenzied crowd of 10,000 spectators. Two days later, the Americans defeated Finland 4-2 to clinch the hockey gold.

The Soviet team had captured the previous four Olympic hockey golds, going back to 1964, and had not lost an Olympic hockey game since 1968. Three days before the Lake Placid Games began, the Soviets routed the U.S. team 10-3 in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Americans looked scrappy, but few blamed them for it—their average age, after all, was only 22, and their team captain, Mike Eruzione, was recruited from the obscurity of the Toledo Blades of the International League.

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On February 22, 1732, George Washington is born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the first of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. (Augustine had three additional children from his first marriage.) An initially loyal British subject, Washington eventually led the Continental Army in the American Revolutionand became the new nation's first president. He is often referred to as the father of the United States.

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1819 

Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sign the Florida Purchase Treaty, in which Spain agrees to cede the remainder of its province of Florida to the United States.

Spanish colonization of the Florida peninsula began at St. Augustine in 1565. By the 17th century, the Spanish began coming under attack from Native Americans defending their ancestral homelands and English colonists encroaching from the north. Spain’s last-minute entry into the French and Indian War on the side of France cost it Florida, which the British acquired through the first Treaty of Paris in 1763. After 20 years of British rule, however, Florida was returned to Spain as part of the second Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution in 1783.

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On February 22, 1959, Lee Petty defeats Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish at the just-opened Daytona International Speedway in Florida to win the first-ever Daytona 500. The race was so close that Beauchamp was initially named the winner by William France, the owner of the track and head of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). However, Petty, who was driving a hardtop Oldsmobile 88, challenged the results and three days later, with the assistance of news photographs, he was officially named the champ.

Some speculated that track owner France declared Beauchamp the winner in order to intentionally stir up controversy and generate publicity for his new race track.

 

[LaceyLou]

Sophie and Hans Scholl, of the White Rose resistance, were executed by guillotine 83 years ago today in Munich.

[Screwball]

46 years to the day the USA Men's Hockey Team wins the Gold Metal. Congrats to them.

The 1980 story has to be one of the best sports stories in history. If you were alive at that time, it was one of those "I remember exactly where I was" kind of things. A truly magical and incredible story.

I thought the movie was really good, and there is a Netflix documentary that is excellent as well.  

[Tiger337]

2 minutes ago, Screwball said:

46 years to the day the USA Men's Hockey Team wins the Gold Metal. Congrats to them.

The 1980 story has to be one of the best sports stories in history. If you were alive at that time, it was one of those "I remember exactly where I was" kind of things. A truly magical and incredible story.

I thought the movie was really good, and there is a Netflix documentary that is excellent as well.  

I wasn't even a hockey fan, but it was still one of the best stories ever.  

Jim Craig's brother was a student in my class several years later.  

[oblong]

In Detroit the game was on delay and Bill Bonds ruined it during a promo commercial for the news later on. 

[Screwball]

I didn't realize it was on delay until I read that today.  It looks like both games were, both Russia and Finland.

I was working the counter in the bowling alley the night against Russia. Apparently not many knew the results, including me. We had a 24 lane house and when people came in they said to make sure to keep them up to date on the score. I had a TV at the counter. People were running back to the bar between their turn bowling to watch, and at the counter, what little they could.

I would run a streamer across the scoreboards as the game went on. Finally, I got to put: USA 4, Russia 3 - FINAL. The place went nuts. It was really amazing. 

We had 4 or 5 guys from there who rented a motor home and went to Lake Placid. They couldn't get in the arena, but was there. They said the town went bonkers. That had to be a memory of a lifetime.

[Screwball]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I wasn't even a hockey fan, but it was still one of the best stories ever.  

Jim Craig's brother was a student in my class several years later.  

That's pretty cool. You never know who you might get in your class.

 

[Tiger337]

16 minutes ago, Screwball said:

That's pretty cool. You never know who you might get in your class.

 

I got lots of Divsion I hockey players in my classes at UMass Lowell.  Most of them weren't there to be students.  It was interesting experience!

[Sports_Freak]

Today is also a day that shall go down in history; February 22nd. 2026...The United States defeats Canada to win an Olympic gold medal..

[CMRivdogs]

February 23

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-23?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2026-0223-02232026&om_rid=

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February 23, 1945: During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi—the island’s highest peak and most strategic position—and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis Lowery, who was with them, recorded the event. Americans fighting for control of Suribachi’s slopes cheered the raising of the flag.

Several hours later, more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.

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Friedrich Wilhelm Rudolf Gerhard August, Freiherr von Steuben, a Prussian military officer, arrivesat General George Washington’s encampment at Valley Forge on February 23, 1778 and commences training soldiers in close-order drill, instilling new confidence and discipline in the demoralized Continental Army.

Von Steuben, who did not speak English, drafted a drill manual in French, which Alexander Hamilton and Nathanael Greene then translated into English. The Prussian drill techniques he shared were far more advanced than those of other European armies, let alone those of the ragtag Patriots. The ego-crushing methods of modern boot camp were practiced among the shoeless soldiers of Valley Forge with remarkable efficacy. Most important for 18th-century battle was an efficient method of firing and reloading weapons, which von Steuben forced the Patriots to practice until it became second nature.

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1940 Folk singer Woody Guthrie writes one of his best-known songs, “This Land is Your Land.” It would become one of America's most famous folk songs.

“This Land Is Your Land,” which Guthrie wrote while living in New York City, reflected not only Guthrie’s support for the common folk, but also his deep love for his country. The verse celebrated the beauty and grandeur of America while the chorus drove home the populist sentiment that the nation belonged to all the people, not merely the rich and powerful. Probably the most famous of his more than 1,000 songs, “This Land Is Your Land” was also one of his last. Later that year Guthrie moved to New York where his career was soon interrupted by World War II. After serving in the Merchant Marines, he returned to New York, where he continued to perform and record his old material, but he never matched his earlier prolific output.

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On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, receive the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. Thanks to the vaccine, by the 21st century polio cases were reduced by 99 percent worldwide.

 

 

[CMRivdogs]