History Shorts - 9

I've decided to look up a few tidbits about history. No special topic, just history in general. I hope it's something that will peak some interest.

1. February 22, 1942 - President Roosevelt orders MacArthur to get out of the Philippines. - General MacArthur was called out of retirement to command 10,000 American Army troops, 12,000 Filipino enlisted men who fought as part of the U.S. Army, and 100,000 Filipino army soldiers, who were poorly trained and ill-prepared. MacArthur overestimated his troops’ strength and underestimated Japan’s determination. The Rainbow War Plan required that MacArthur withdraw his troops into the mountains of the Bataan Peninsula and await better-trained and better-equipped American reinforcements. Instead, MacArthur decided to take the Japanese head on–and he never recovered. MacArthur at first balked. He was fully prepared to fight alongside his men to the death if necessary. MacArthur finally obeyed the president’s order in March.

2. February 22, 1980 - US Hockey team pulls off the "Miracle on Ice" - the U.S. men’s hockey team pulls off one of the biggest upsets in sports history with a 4-3 victory over the heavily favored Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid NY. Two days later, the Americans went on to beat Finland and win the gold medal. As a flag-waving American crowd counted down the final seconds of the game, broadcaster Al Michaels famously said, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

3. February 22, 1819 - The US acquires Spanish Florida. Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sign the Florida Purchase Treaty, in which Spain agrees to cede the remainder of its old province of Florida to the United States. Spain’s last-minute entry into the French and Indian War on the side of France cost it Florida. Formal U.S. occupation began in 1821, and General Andrew Jackson was appointed the military governor. Florida was organized as a US territory in 1822 and was admitted into the Union as a slave state in 1845.