History in 15th Feb

USS Maine

The USS Maine explodes in Havana harbor, killing 261 American sailors. The Maine was stationed in Cuba to protect American interests during the Cuban War of Independence against Spain, and the mysterious explosion led to calls for war against Spain. Following an American blockade around Cuba, Spain declared war on April 23.
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Susan B. Anthony born

Suffragist Susan B. Anthony is born in Adams, Massachusetts. Anthony, the daughter of a Quaker abolitionist, fought for both women's equality and abolition. In 1872 she was arrested for voting, claiming that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed all Americans the right to vote. Her efforts helped secure the Nineteenth Amendment, ratified 14 years after her death, which enfranchised American women.
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FDR survives assassination attempt

Giuseppe Zangara, an unemployed Italian immigrant, fails to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt as he greets supporters in Miami, Florida. While missing Roosevelt, Zangara mortally wounds Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago, as the two politicians shook hands in Bayfront Park. After Cermak died of his wounds several weeks later, Zangara would be convicted and executed for first-degree murder.
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