Daily List

Today in History, February 14th

On February 14, 1929, seven men were gunned down in Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Plus ENIAC, the Pale Blue Dot and YouTube.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published February 14, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

Beyond Valentine’s Day itself, February 14 is best known for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929, when seven men tied to Bugs Moran’s gang were shot in a Chicago garage during the Prohibition-era bootlegging wars. The date also saw the public debut of the ENIAC computer in 1946 and Voyager 1’s “Pale Blue Dot” photo of Earth in 1990.

The big story: The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929)

Prohibition made selling liquor illegal, and in Chicago it also made it very profitable. Rival gangs fought over the trade, and by 1929 the North Side outfit run by George “Bugs” Moran was one of the main obstacles to Al Capone. On February 14, 1929, men dressed as police officers walked into a garage at 2122 North Clark Street that Moran’s gang used. They lined seven men up against a wall and opened fire. All seven were members or associates of Moran’s gang, among them the brothers Frank and Pete Gusenberg and Reinhardt Schwimmer, a friend of the gang. The killers were widely believed to be working for Capone’s organization. Coverage spread around the world, and the massacre became the defining image of Chicago’s gangland years and of the lawlessness that Prohibition helped create.

More events on February 14

Year	What happened
1779	British explorer Captain James Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, in a clash with Hawaiians that began over a stolen boat.
1876	Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent on the telephone. Rival inventor Elisha Gray’s paperwork reached the patent office within hours of Bell’s.
1920	Carrie Chapman Catt founded the League of Women Voters in Chicago.
1943	German forces under Erwin Rommel opened the offensive at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia, which handed U.S. troops their first major defeat of the war.
1946	The ENIAC, the first general-purpose high-speed electronic digital computer, was shown to the public.
1950	The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China signed a treaty of friendship and mutual defense.
1962	First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy led TV viewers on a tour of the newly restored White House.
1989	Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie over his novel The Satanic Verses.
1990	Voyager 1 photographed Earth from about 3.7 billion miles away, producing the famous “Pale Blue Dot” image.
2005	Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim registered YouTube.
2018	A former student killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
2018	South African President Jacob Zuma resigned amid corruption allegations and was succeeded by Cyril Ramaphosa.

Born on February 14

1760: Richard Allen, Philadelphia minister who founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church and became its first bishop.
1894: Jack Benny, Chicago-born comedian and one of the biggest stars of radio and early television.
1946: Gregory Hines, dancer and actor who led a revival of tap dancing.