On This Day
What Happened on February 29 in History
8 events that happened on February 29, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1916
A British armed merchant ship and a German raider sank each other in a North Sea battle.
HMS Alcantara and the disguised German raider Greif fought at close range. Both ships went down.
Source: history.com
1940
Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award.
She was named best supporting actress for her role in Gone with the Wind, which won eight Oscars that night. McDaniel was seated apart from her co-stars at the segregated ceremony.
Source: history.com
1940
Ernest Lawrence received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics at a ceremony in Berkeley, California.
The prize honored his invention of the cyclotron, a machine that accelerates particles to high energy. Because of the war it was presented in California instead of Stockholm.
Source: nobelprize.org; chancellor.berkeley.edu
The Cold War
1956
President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that he would seek a second term.
Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack the previous September. He explained his decision to the nation in a radio and television address and won reelection in November.
Source: presidency.ucsb.edu; millercenter.org
1960
The Supreme Court upheld federal power to sue over racial discrimination in voting in United States v. Raines.
The case tested the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which let the Justice Department sue registrars who blocked Black citizens from voting in Georgia. The justices sustained the law and rejected the lower court ruling against it.
Source: law.cornell.edu
The Modern Era
2004
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and left the country amid an armed revolt.
Rebels had seized much of Haiti in the weeks before. The United States sent Marines to help restore order.
Source: presidency.ucsb.edu; georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov
2004
The UN Security Council authorized a multinational interim force to restore order in Haiti.
The vote came hours after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left the country. U.S. Marines formed the leading element of the force.
2020
The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.
The deal set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. and allied troops in exchange for Taliban security commitments. The last U.S. forces left Afghanistan in August 2021.
Source: presidency.ucsb.edu