TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 19TH

1807 – Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama and confined to Fort Stoddert.

1846 – In Austin, Texas the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed. The Republic of Texas government officially transfers power to the State of Texas government following the annexation of Texas by the United States.

1859 – Daniel E. Sickles, a New York Congressman, is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity. This is the first time this defense is successfully used in the United States.

1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

1884 – More than sixty tornadoes strike the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.

1916 – Eddie Arcaro, American jockey and sportscaster (d. 1997) is born.

1942 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese Americans to internment camps.

1960 – China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket.

1962 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek-American pathologist, invented the Pap smear (b. 1883) dies.

1963 – The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakens the feminist movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.

1976 – Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4417

1985 – William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave hospital.

1985 – EastEnders, BBC's flagship soap opera, broadcasts for the first time.

2001 – The Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

2002 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

2013 – George Aratani, Japanese American entrepreneur, philanthropist and the founder of Mikasa china and owner of the Kenwood Electronics corporation (b. 1917) dies.