This Day in History: 02/29/1940 - McDaniel wins Oscar - HISTORY

On February 29, 1940, Gone with the Wind is honored with eight Oscars by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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The first Ground Hog day introducing Punxsutawney Phil, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Samuel Clemens known as Mark Twain is released and the first GI Joe hits the market in This Day in History video. The date is February 2nd. Willie Nelson is accused of tax evasion and hands over $9 million of the $17 million the IRS says he owes.

On This Day in History, November 2, Harry Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey in the Presidential Election of 1948. This was a surprise to the Chicago Tribune whose front page the night before had declared Dewey as the winner. On November 1, 1983 Martin Luther King's birthday was made into a national holiday. It is still the only national holiday to honor a single American. On November 2, 2000, the first multi-national space crew reached its destination of the International Space Station. Lastly, on November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes flew his Spruce Goose. This was the largest aircraft ever built, and it was more like a flying boat. However, Hughes proved his critics wrong as he flew the craft for one mile. This was the first and only flight of the Spruce Goose.

In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 29, 1958, the United States committed men, money, and technology to winning the "space race." NASA was created after the Russians launched the satellite Sputnik. After eleven years, America pulled out ahead with Apollo 11. Now the "space race" is done; both the U.S. and Russia are manning the International Space Station together.

On this day in 2005, Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. After briefly coming ashore in southern Florida on August 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, Katrina gained strength before slamming into the Gulf Coast on August 29. In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana.

The Oxford Dictionary debuts, Chief Justice John Jay is named the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the first nuclear explosion is shown on TV, and the Columbia space shuttle explodes in This Day in History video. The date is February 1st. The crew of Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, and David Brown are lost.

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