Events
- 1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
- 1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six breakaway U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
- 1899 – The Philippine–American War begins.
- 1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
- 1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
- 1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
- 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
- 1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
- 1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
- 1999 – The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
- 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.