Thursday, February 12, 1914. Groundbreaking for the Lincoln Memorial.

Ground was broken on this day for the Lincoln Memorial.

Col. William W. Harts, spade in hand, Eagle Scout Graeme T. Smallwood on the left, Henry Bacon to the right of Harts, Senator Joseph C.S. Blackburn.

The groundbreaking was barely attended.  Sen. Blackburn stated that "The memorial will show that (President Abraham) Lincoln is now regarded as the greatest of all Americans" in a speech he delivered on the occasion.

Czar Nicolas II recalled Ivan Goremykin into service as Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, replacing Vladimir Kokovtsov.

The Squaw Man, Cecille B. Demille's directorial debut, which is a melodrama set in Wyoming, premiered.  Not surprisingly, the film is not without its critics, and certainly would never be named that today.  It does feature a Native American heroine played by an actual Native American, Red Wing (Lilian Margaret St. Cyr).  St. Cyr died in 1974, at which time she was either 90, or 101, years old.