Miles Standish is made leader of the Plymouth Colony on this day in 1621. In 1753, calendars in Sweden jump from February 17 to March 1 as the country adopts the Gregorian Calendar, likely upsetting anyone with a birthday in the second half of February (no presents for you!). Newsweek was first published in 1933. Prohibition is repealed, also in 1933.
Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, was born in 1874.
If you were an ancient Roman citizen, you would be celebrating Quirinalia today.