Today in History, 2/15

1564: Galileo is born.
1764: The city of St. Louis, MO is established.
1809: Cyrus McCormick is born. He invented the horse-drawn reaper and founded the company that would become International Harvester.1820: Susan B. Anthony is born.1862: During the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, TN
1879: President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
1882: The actor John Barrymore is born. He was Lionel and Ethel's brother and Drew's grandfather.
1892: James Forrestal is born. He was the first Secretary of Defense.1896: Arthur Shields is born. He was a regular player in John Ford movies.
1898: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor, leading to the Spanish American War.1907: Cesar Romero is born.
1914: Kevin McCarthy is born. He was in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers but these days plays mostly evil capitalists in movies like Innerspace and UHF.
1918: Alan Arbus is born. He Dr. Sidney Freedman, the psychiatrist Hawkeye is always whining to on MASH, but he also played the evil drug deal whose honkey ass Pam Grier kicks in Coffy.
1927: Harvey Korman is born.

1931: Claire Bloom is born. She played Hera in Clash of the Titans.
1933: Giuseppe Zangara attempts to asssassinate President-elect Roosevelt, but instead kills Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak. Zangara was mentally unhinged and believed that the president was supernaturally responsible for his abdominal pains. Mayor Cernak's last words were, "I'm glad it was me and not you, Mr. President."
1935: Roger Chaffee, astronaut in the Apollo program is born.
1937: Gregory Mcdonald is born. He wrote the original Fletch novels.
1946: ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer - the first general purpose electronic computer is powered up at the University of Philadelphia.1948: Art Spiegelman is born. He did those great graphic novels about the Holocaust Maus.
1950: The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
1951: Jane Seymour is born.1954: Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, is born.
1955: Christopher McDonald is born. He played Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore and arrogant jerks in a ton of other movies.
1964: Chris Farley is born.
1965: The red-and-white maple leaf design is selected as the new flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign.1971: Rene O'Connor is born. She played Gabrielle on Xena but also played Lieutenant Kelly in the eye-poppingly bad Alien Apocalypse along with Bruce Campbell.1973: Alex Borstein is born. She provides the voice of Lois on Family Guy and played the best friend in the terrible Catwoman.
1975: Brendon Small is born. He created the cartoon Metalocalypse.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up