History for February 1

History for February 1 - On-This-Day.com 

Boris Yeltsin 1931 - Russian president 1991-1999

• 1861 - Texas voted to secede from the Union.
• 1862 - "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," by Julia Ward Howe was first published in the "Atlantic Monthly."
• 1884 - The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
• 1898 - The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, CT, issued the first automobile insurance policy. Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, NY, paid $11.25 for the policy, which gave him $5,000 in liability coverage.
• 1900 - Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera.
• 1919 - The first Miss America was crowned in New York City.
• 1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was welcomed in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.
• 2003 - NASA's space shuttle Columbia exploded while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.