SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA.
Sixteen minutes before it was scheduled to land - on the 1st of February, 2003 - Columbia broke apart, killing all seven crew members. As debris fell to earth, the bits and pieces were detected on Doppler radar. Among the Orbiter's recovered remnants was a videotape the crew was making minutes before the explosion. What remains of that tape is linked in the second paragraph of chapter 10.
Although experts initially discussed several theories for the cause of the disaster - including the potential of failed heat tiles - a simulation of foam hitting the wing confirmed what happened. You can see a video of that NASA simulation - with its shocking results - in chapter 11. (Go to the third paragraph and click on "struck.")
JESSE JAMES and the BUSHWACKER CONNECTION
On the 2nd of February, 1865, the son of an Ohio teacher burned a railroad depot, stole horses and robbed individuals in the Kentucky town of Midway. His name was William Quantrill, and he would soon have a profound impact on a young teen called Jesse James.
TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO.
America and Mexico fought a war in the mid-nineteenth century. It ended - on the 2nd of February, 1848 - when the countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. For a payment of $15 million - roughly equivalent to $300 million in today's currency - the United States acquired parts, or all, of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas. (See chapter 9 of this story.)
BATTLE of STALINGRAD.
War and human misery are always soul-mates. But rarely do people bear the kind of suffering residents of Stalingrad endured when the German 6th Army became their Enemy at the Gates.
Hitler thought he could conquer the city named after Stalin. Stalin issued a proclamation that anyone who surrendered, or retreated, would be shot. The lives of ordinary people, trapped in the middle, were reduced to unimaginable horror. Those who survived were sustained by little more than the human will to live. That they lived at all, given the conditions they endured, is astonishing. By February 2nd - of 1943 - the city was back in Soviet hands. The German defeat was a major turning point in the war, ultimately leading to Hitler's defeat.
ERIN BROCKOVICH and the PG&E CASES
To avoid another courtroom battle over contaminated water, Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to settle a series of cases on February 3, 2006. They paid $295 million
to settle. It wasn't the first time the company resolved significant litigation for alleged chrome-6 issues, however. Their legal problems began when Erin Brockovich - a formerly unemployed single mother of three - questioned why medical records were in a real-estate file.
EXECUTION, MARY QUEEN of SCOTS.
After nineteen years as a prisoner of Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Stuart - Queen of Scots - was beheaded on the 8th of February - 1587 - at Fotheringhay. Cousins, the two women never met in life although they are interred, near each other, at Westminster Abbey. Entangled in complex political events, Mary - despite her royal status - was not allowed to have a lawyer represent her at trial.
THE YALTA CONFERENCE.
During the winter of 1945, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at Yalta (in the Crimea) to discuss plans for post-war Europe in the likely event that Germany would be defeated. On February 11, of that year, they signed the Yalta Agreement. Those actions led to the carving-up of eastern Europe.
KING TUT'S TOMB.
On the 13
th of February - 1924 - archeologists opened the tomb of King Tutankhamun. It contained treasures which had not been damaged, or stolen, by grave robbers. In the ensuing years, people throughout the world have had an opportunity to see some of the contents of the young Pharaoh's tomb. But at the time, folks were convinced a curse
would doom anyone involved with its excavation.
THE POWER of JUDICIAL REVIEW.
When the U.S. Supreme Court decides that a law is unconstitutional, few today question the Court's right to do so. Judicial review - testing legal statutes against the Constitution - is what nine unelected individuals do for a living. Most justices who get the job do it for a really long time. But ... it didn't start out that way. In fact, the whole world of constitutional analysis changed during the Court's February term in 1803. This story explains what happened.
JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT.
On the 19th of February - 1942 - President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. It required people of Japanese descent who lived in areas along, or near, the Pacific coast to report to relocation centers. More than 110,000 people were forced to close businesses, sell property, leave school and move to internment camps. Resistors were convicted of breaking the law which the U.S. Supreme Court - despite a blistering dissent by Justice Frank Murphy - found constitutional.
PARLIAMENT ABOLISHES SLAVE-TRADING
Eighteen years after he'd first raised the issue to abolish slave trading, William Wilberforce - Member of Parliament - put another bill before his colleagues. It was the 23rd of February, 1807.
As he listened to the debate, William sensed momentum may have changed. Could it be that people were now in favor of abolishing the slave-trade law? At 4:00 in the morning, the House of Commons voted. The law changed - by a vote of 283 to 16.
Wilberforce bowed his head - and wept.
