1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum.
1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian House of Commons to come out as gay.
1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
1940 – For her performance as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid fails: Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
1704 – Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.
1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
Births
1992 – Caitlin EJ Meyer, American actress. She has appeared in Little Secrets among other roles.
1992 – Perry Kitchen, American soccer player. Perry Allen Kitchen (born February 29, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defensive midfielder for the LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer.
1988 – Bobby Sanguinetti, American ice hockey player. Robert Sanguinetti (born February 29, 1988) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman who is currently playing with EHC München in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).
1984 – Cullen Jones, American swimmer. Cullen Andrew Jones (born February 27, 1984) is an American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who specializes in freestyle sprint events.
1980 – Chris Conley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the only remaining original member as well as major artistic contributor.
1980 – Taylor Twellman, American soccer player and sportscaster. He now works in the media as a soccer television commentator.
1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor. Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (/dʒɑː/), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor from Queens, New York.
1976 – Terrence Long, American baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2006 for the New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, and New York Yankees.
1972 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-American activist and educator (d. 1994), was a Cuban-American AIDS educator and television personality. As one of the first openly gay men with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media, Zamora brought international attention to HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ issues and prejudices through his appearance on MTV's reality television series, The Real World: San Francisco.
1972 – Saul Williams, American singer-songwriter. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film Slam and the 2013 jukebox musical Holler If Ya Hear Me.
1968 – Bryce Paup, American football player and coach. Bryce Eric Paup (born February 29, 1968) is a former American football player who played as an outside linebacker for the Green Bay Packers (1990–94), the Buffalo Bills (1995–97), the Jacksonville Jaguars (1998–99), and the Minnesota Vikings (2000 and 2002).
1968 – Chucky Brown, American basketball player and coach. Clarence "Chucky" Brown Jr. (born February 29, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player.
1968 – Eugene Volokh, Ukrainian-American lawyer and educator. Eugene Volokh (/ˈvɒlək/ VOL-ək;; born February 29, 1968) is a Ukrainian-American legal scholar known for his scholarship in American constitutional law and libertarianism, as well as his prominent legal blog "The Volokh Conspiracy".
1968 – Howard Tayler, American author and illustrator. Tayler (born February 29, 1968 in Florida) is the award-winning creator of the webcomic Schlock Mercenary.
1968 – Pete Fenson, American curler and sportscaster. Peter Fenson (born February 29, 1968 in Bemidji, Minnesota) is an American curler.
1964 – Mervyn Warren, American tenor, composer, and producer. Mervyn Edwin Warren (born February 29, 1964) is an American film composer, record producer, music conductor, music arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist.
1960 – Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker and author. Robbins is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including the books Unlimited Power (published in 1987) and Awaken the Giant Within (published in 1993).
1952 – Bart Stupak, American police officer and politician. Bartholomew Thomas Stupak (/ˈstuːpæk/; born February 29, 1952) is an American politician and lobbyist.
1952 – Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American journalist and producer. She was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and resides in Los Angeles, California.
1952 – Tim Powers, American author and educator. Timothy Thomas "Tim" Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author.
1948 – Patricia A. McKillip, American author. Patricia Anne McKillip (born February 29, 1948) is an award-winning American author of fantasy and science fiction novels.
1944 – Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (d. 2013), was an American film and television actor, TV presenter, narrator and former Chicago police officer. He was a character actor, often typecast as a mobster or police officer.
1944 – Phyllis Frelich, American actress (d. 2014), was a deaf American actress.
1944 – Steve Mingori, American baseball player (d. 2008), was an American left-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians (1970–1973) and Kansas City Royals (1973–1979).
1940 – William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer. William H. "Billy" Turner Jr. (born February 29, 1940) is an American Thoroughbred flat racing trainer who is best known for winning the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in 1977 with Seattle Slew, and is the world's oldest living Triple Crown-winning trainer.
1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015). Often cast as a villain, he is best known for his portrayal of Moe Greene in The Godfather and his Primetime Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in a Comedy for The Famous Teddy Z.
1936 – Jack R. Lousma, American colonel, astronaut, and politician. Jack Robert Lousma (born February 29, 1936), (Col, USMC, Ret.), is an American aeronautical engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former naval aviator, NASA astronaut, and politician.
1932 – Gene H. Golub, American mathematician and academic (d. 2007), was one of the preeminent numerical analysts of his generation.
1932 – Masten Gregory, American race car driver (d. 1985), was an American racing driver. He raced in Formula One between 1957 and 1965, participating in 43 World Championship races, and numerous non-Championship races.
1932 – Reri Grist, American soprano and actress. Reri Grist (born February 29, 1932) is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera.
1928 – Vance Haynes, American archaeologist, geologist, and author. Caleb Vance Haynes Jr. (born February 29, 1928), known as Vance Haynes or C.
1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015), was an American baseball third baseman and right-handed slugger in Major League Baseball for ten seasons in the 1940s and 1950s.
1920 – Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006), was an American B-movie and television actor, whose most notable feature film role was as Lieutenant, Junior Grade, H. Paynter Jr. in The Caine Mutiny (1954).
1920 – Howard Nemerov, American poet and academic (d. 1991). He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990.
1920 – Michèle Morgan, French-American actress and singer (d. 2016), was a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades in both French cinema and Hollywood features. She is considered to have been one of the great French actresses of the 20th century.
1920 – Rolland W. Redlin, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011), was a U.S. Representative from North Dakota, who served between 1965 and 1967.
1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994), was an American singer, actress and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era.
1916 – James B. Donovan, American lawyer (d. 1970), was an American lawyer and United States Navy officer in the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency), ultimately becoming general counsel of the OSS, and an international diplomatic negotiator.
1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1957), was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He was known as "JD".
1904 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965), was an American professional baseball player and minor league manager. He was known as the Wild Horse of the Osage because of his daring, aggressive baserunning abilities.
1896 – William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1975), was an American film director notable for his work in crime, adventure and action genre films, often focusing on aviation themes, a particular passion. He also directed several well-regarded satirical comedies.
1892 – Augusta Savage, American sculptor (d. 1962), was an African-American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who would become nationally known.
1884 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (d. 1941). He was a Republican member of the U.S.
1860 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician and businessman, co-founded the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (d. 1929), was an American businessman, inventor, and statistician who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine, patented in 1889, marks the beginning of the era of semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century.
1836 – Dickey Pearce, American baseball player and manager (d. 1908). He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and began playing with the Brooklyn Atlantics in 1856.
1828 – Emmeline B. Wells, American journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1921), was an American journalist, editor, poet, women's rights advocate and diarist. She served as the fifth Relief Society General President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1910 until her death.
1736 – Ann Lee, English-American religious leader, founded the Shakers (d. 1784). Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or the Shakers.
Deaths
2016 – Gil Hill, American police officer, actor, and politician (b. 1931)
2012 – Roland Bautista, American guitarist (b. 1951)
2012 – Sheldon Moldoff, American illustrator (b. 1920)
2008 – Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
2004 – Jerome Lawrence, American playwright and author (b. 1915)
2000 – Dennis Danell, American guitarist (b. 1961)
1996 – Ralph Rowe, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1924)
1996 – Wes Farrell, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
1988 – Sidney Harmon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1907)
1980 – Gil Elvgren, American painter and illustrator (b. 1914)
1976 – Florence P. Dwyer, American politician (b. 1902)
1972 – Tom Davies, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
1968 – Lena Blackburne, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1886)
1964 – Frank Albertson, American actor and singer (b. 1909)
1960 – Melvin Purvis, American police officer and FBI agent (b. 1903)
1960 – Walter Yust, American journalist and author (b. 1894)
1948 – Rebel Oakes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
1928 – Ina Coolbrith, American poet and librarian (b. 1841)
1920 – Ernie Courtney, American baseball player (b. 1875)
1908 – Pat Garrett, American sheriff (b. 1850)
1212 – Hōnen, Japanese monk, founded Jōdo-shū (b. 1133)
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