February 8 in history — What Happened Today in History

Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board.

The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.

Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon.

Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.

The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.

World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.

World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom.

World War II: Japan invades Singapore.

Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.

The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.

The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.

Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.

The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.

The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.

The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.

Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.

England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.

Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, delaying the criminalization of slavery until the amendment's national adoption on December 6, 1865. The amendment is ultimately ratified by Delaware on February 12, 1901, the 92nd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate.

An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.

Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.

The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I.

Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

Bethany Hamilton, American surfer

Klay Thompson, American basketball player

Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player

JaJuan Johnson, American basketball player

Julio Jones, American football player

Brendan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player

Courtney Vandersloot, American-Hungarian basketball player

Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer

Javi García, Spanish footballer

Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater

Anderson .Paak, American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer

Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player

Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter

Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (born 1938)

Violette Verdy, French ballerina (born 1933)

Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (born 1939)

Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1932)

Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (born 1988)

Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (born 1938)

Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (born 1918)

James DePreist, American conductor and educator (born 1936)

Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author (born 1920)

Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (born 1918)

Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter (born 1945)

Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter (born 1950)

Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (born 1909)