February 8

February 8 in history:

• 1837, the Senate selected the vice president of the United States, choosing Richard Mentor Johnson after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes

• 1904, the Russo-Japanese War, a conflict over control of Manchuria and Korea, began as Japanese forces attacked Port Arthur

• 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated

• 1915, D.W. Griffith's groundbreaking and controversial silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles

• 1924, the first execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, was put to death

• 1974, the last three-man crew of the Skylab space station returned to Earth after spending 84 days in space

• 1978, the deliberations of the Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time as members opened debate on the Panama Canal treaties

• 2002, the Taliban's foreign minister (Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil) turned himself in to authorities in Afghanistan

• 2003, Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched in support of 9,000 oil workers fired for leading a two-month strike against President Hugo Chavez