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more events on February 9
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1994
Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa.
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1978
Canada expels 11 Soviets in spying case.
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1964
The U.S. embassy in Moscow is stoned by Chinese and Vietnamese students.
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1953
The French destroy six Viet Minh war factories hidden in the jungles of Vietnam.
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1951
Actress Greta Garbo gets U.S. citizenship.
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1946
Stalin announces the new five-year plan for the Soviet Union, calling for production boosts of 50 percent.
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1944
Alice Walker, Pulitzer prize winning author (The Color Purple).
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1943
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1942
Chiang Kai-shek meets with Sir Stafford Cripps, the British viceroy in India.
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1923
Brendan Behan, Irish playwright and poet (The Hostage, The Quare Fellow).
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1922
The U.S. Congress establishes the World War Foreign Debt Commission.
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1916
Conscription begins in Great Britain as the Military Service Act becomes effective.
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1909
Dean Rusk, Secretary of State under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
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France agrees to recognize German economic interests in Morocco in exchange for political supremacy.
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1904
Japanese troops land near Seoul, Korea, after disabling two Russian cruisers.