http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Feb 4, 1789: Washington unanimously elected by Electoral College to first and second terms
On this day in 1789, George Washington becomes the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. He repeated this notable feat on the same day in 1792.
The peculiarities of early American voting procedure meant that although Washington won unanimous election, he still had a runner-up, John Adams, who served as vice president during both of Washington's terms. Electors in what is now called the Electoral College named two choices for president. They each cast two ballots without noting a distinction between their choice for president and vice president. Washington was chosen by all of the electors and therefore is considered to have been unanimously elected. Of those also named on the electors' ballots, Adams had the most votes and became vice president.
Although Washington's overwhelming popularity prevented problems in 1789 and 1792, this procedure caused great difficulty in the elections of 1796 and 1800. In 1796, Federalist supporters of John Adams cast only one of their two votes in an effort to ensure that Adams would win the presidency without giving votes to any of the other candidates. This led to a situation in which the Federalist Adams won the highest number of votes and became president, but Thomas Jefferson, the opposing Democratic-Republican candidate, came in second and therefore became his opponent's vice president.
In 1800, the system led to a tie between the Democratic-Republican candidates for president and vice president, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. This sent the vote to the House of Representatives, where Federalists voted for Burr instead of Jefferson, whom they despised. As a result, the Congressional vote ended in a tie 35 times before the Federalists decided to hand in blank ballots and concede the White House to Jefferson.
In 1804, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution ended this particular form of electoral chaos by stipulating that separate votes be cast for president and vice president.
Feb 4, 1945: The Yalta Conference commences
On this day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta, in the Crimea, to discuss and plan the postwar world—namely, to address the redistribution of power and influence. It is at Yalta that many place the birth of the Cold War.
It had already been determined that a defeated Germany would be sliced up into zones occupied by the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, the principal Allied powers. Once in Germany, the Allies would see to the deconstruction of the German military and the prosecution of war criminals. A special commission would also determine war reparations.
But the most significant issue, the one that marked the conference in history, was Joseph Stalin's designs on Eastern Europe. (Stalin's demands had started early with his desire that the location of the conference be at a Black Sea resort close to the USSR. He claimed he was too ill to travel far.) Roosevelt and Churchill attempted to create a united front against the Soviet dictator; their advisers had already mapped out clear positions on Europe and the creation and mission of the United Nations. They propounded the principles of the Atlantic Charter, formulated back in August 1941, that would ensure "life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom" for a free Europe and guarantee that only those nations that had declared war on the Axis powers would gain entry into the new United Nations.
Stalin agreed to these broad principles (although he withdrew his promise that all 16 Soviet republics would have separate representation within the United Nations), as well as an agreement that the Big Three would help any nation formerly in the grip of an Axis power in the establishment of "interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population... and the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people." Toward that end, Roosevelt and Churchill gave support to the Polish government-in-exile in London; Stalin demurred, insisting that the communist-dominated and Soviet-loyal Polish Committee of National Liberation, based in Poland, would govern. The only compromise reached was the inclusion of "other" political groups in the committee. As for Poland's new borders, they were discussed, but no conclusions were reached.
The conference provided the illusion of more unanimity than actually existed, especially in light of Stalin's reneging on his promise of free elections in those Eastern European nations the Soviets occupied at war's end. Roosevelt and Churchill had believed Stalin's promises, primarily because they needed to—they were convinced the USSR's support in defeating the Japanese was crucial. In fact, the USSR played much less of a role in ending the war in the East than assumed. But there was no going back. A divisive "iron curtain," in Churchill's famous phrase, was beginning to descend in Europe.
Feb 4, 1915: Germany declares war zone around British Isles
A full two years before Germany's aggressive naval policy would draw the United States into the war against them, Kaiser Wilhelm announces an important step in the development of that policy, proclaiming the North Sea a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, were liable to be sunk without warning.
In widening the boundaries of naval warfare, Germany was retaliating against the Allies for the British-imposed blockade of Germany in the North Sea, an important part of Britain's war strategy aimed at strangling its enemy economically. By war's end—according to official British counts—the so-called hunger blockade would take some 770,000 German lives.
The German navy, despite its attempts to build itself up in the pre-war years, was far inferior in strength to the peerless British Royal Navy. After resounding defeats of its battle cruisers, such as that suffered in the Falkland Islands in December 1914, Germany began to look to its dangerous U-boat submarines as its best hope at sea. Hermann Bauer, the leader of the German submarine service, had suggested in October 1914 that the U-boats could be used to attack commerce ships and raid their cargoes, thus scaring off imports to Britain, including those from neutral countries. Early the following month, Britain declared the North Sea a military area, warning neutral countries that areas would be mined and that all ships must first put into British ports, where they would be searched for possible supplies bound for Germany, stripped of these, and escorted through the British minefields. With this intensification of the blockade, Bauer's idea gained greater support within Germany as the only appropriate response to Britain's actions.
Though German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg and the German Foreign Ministry worried about angering neutral countries, pressure from naval leaders and anger in the German press about the British blockade convinced them to go through with the declaration. On February 4, 1915, Kaiser Wilhelm announced Germany's intention to sink any and all ships sailing under the flags of Britain, Russia or France found within British waters. The Kaiser warned neutral countries that neither crews nor passengers were safe while traveling within the designated war zone around the British Isles. If neutral ships chose to enter British waters after February 18, when the policy went into effect, they would be doing so at their own risk.
The U.S. government immediately and strongly protested the war-zone designation, warning Germany that it would take any steps it might be necessary to take in order to protect American lives and property. Subsequently, a rift opened between Germany's politicians—who didn't want to provoke America's anger—and its navy, which was determined to use its deadly U-boats to the greatest possible advantage.
After a German U-boat sank the British passenger ship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, killing over 1,000 people, including 128 Americans, pressure from the U.S. prompted the German government to greatly constrain the operation of submarines; U-boat warfare was completely suspended that September. Unrestricted submarine warfare was resumed on February 1, 1917, prompting the U.S., two days later, to break diplomatic relations with Germany.
Feb 4, 1826: The Last of the Mohicans is published
On this day in 1826, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper is published. One of the earliest distinctive American novels, the book is the second of the five-novel series called the "Leather-stocking Tales."
Cooper was born in 1789 in New Jersey and moved the following year to the frontier in upstate New York, where his father founded frontier-town Coopersville. Cooper attended Yale but joined the Navy after he was expelled for a prank. When Cooper was about 20, his father died, and he became financially independent. Having drifted for a decade, Cooper began writing a novel after his wife challenged him to write something better than he was reading at the moment. His first novel, Precaution, modeled on Jane Austen, was not successful, but his second, The Spy, influenced by the popular writings of Sir Walter Scott, became a bestseller, making Cooper the first major American novelist. The story was set during the American Revolution and featured George Washington as a character.
He continued to write about the American frontier in his third book, The Pioneer, which featured backcountry scout Natty Bumppo, known in this book as "Leather-stocking." The character, representing goodness, purity, and simplicity, became tremendously popular, and reappeared, by popular demand, in five more novels, known collectively as the "Leather-stocking Tales." The second book in the series, The Last of the Mohicans, is still widely read today. The five books span Bumppo's life, from coming of age through approaching death.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the
Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
960 - The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of
Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than
three centuries.
1194 - 100,000 ransom is paid for Richard I, King of England
1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the
Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1508 - Maximilian I assumes imperial title without being
crowned
1586 - Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, becomes governor of
Neth
1600 - Tycho Brahe & Johannes Kepler meet for 1st time
near Prague
1620 - Prince Bethlen Gabor signs peace with emperor
Ferdinand II
1657 - Oliver Cromwell grants residency to Luis Caravajal
1697 - 3 VOC-ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia
1699 - 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow
1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin
commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's
death.
1782 - British garrison surrenders to French & Spanish
fleet
1783 - Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 (Calabria,
Italy)
1784 - 1st unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
1787 - 1st Anglican bishops of NY & Pennsylvania
consecrated in London
1787 - Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts
farmers) fails
1789 - 1st electoral college chooses Washington & Adams
as Pres & VP
1794 - French National Convention proclaims abolishment of
slavery
English Military and Political Leader Oliver CromwellEnglish
Military and Political Leader Oliver Cromwell 1797 - Earthquake in Quito,
Ecuador kills 41,000
1803 - William Dunlap, adapts French melodrama "Voice
of Nature"
1810 - Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
1822 - Free American Blacks settle Liberia, West Africa
1824 - J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public
1846 - Mormons leave Nauvoo, Mo for settlement in west
1847 - 1st US telegraph co established in Maryland
1849 - University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20
students
1854 - Alvan Bovay proposes name "Republican Party,"
Ripon, Wisc
1855 - Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela
1859 - The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
1861 - Confederate constitutional convention meets for 1st
time, Montgomery Ala, Ga, Fla, La, Miss & SC elect Jefferson Davis pres of
Confederacy
1864 - Skirmish at Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi
1865 - Hawaiian Board of Education formed
1865 - Robert E. Lee is named commander-in-chief of
Confederate Army
Christian Science Founder Mary Baker EddyChristian Science
Founder Mary Baker Eddy 1866 - Mary Baker Eddy cures her injuries by opening a
bible
1880 - Steele MacKay's "Hazel Kirke," premieres in
NYC
1887 - Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation
of railroads
1895 - 1st rolling lift bridge opens, Chicago
1899 - Revolt against US occupation of Philippines
1899 - The Philippine-American War begins.
1903 - Stanley Cup: Montreal AAA beat Winn Victorias, 2
games to 1 & 1 tie
1904 - John Millington Synges "Well of Saints,"
premieres in Dublin
1913 - Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying
wheel rim
1913 - National Institute of Arts & Letters founded
1914 - US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
1915 - Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Miss
Penitentiary
1917 - Belgian Council of Flanders established
1919 - City of Bremen's Soviet Republic overthrown
1920 - 1st flight from London to South Africa takes-off
(lasts 1½ months)
Confederate General Robert E. LeeConfederate General Robert
E. Lee 1922 - WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions
1924 - 1st Winter Olympic games close at Chamonix France
1924 - George Kelly's "Show-Off," premieres in NYC
1926 - Austrian chancellor Seipel wants to join Germany
1927 - KGA-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
1929 - Archie Jackson scores 164 on Test Cricket debut v
England at Adelaide
1930 - 1st tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks,
New Orleans
1931 - National League adopts a deader baseball
1932 - 3rd Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, NY
1932 - Japanese troop occupy Harbin, Manchuria
1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
1933 - -Feb 10] Crew of Dutch "7 Provinces" mutiny
after pay cuts
1933 - German Pres Von Hindenburg limits freedom of the
press
1936 - 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically
(radium E)
1937 - Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3
(unsanctioned) games
1938 - "Our Town," by Thornton Wilder opens on
Broadway
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1938 - Hitler seizes control of German army & puts
Nazi in key posts
1939 - Glenn Cunningham (top miler) says 4-min mile beyond
human effort
1941 - British tanks occupy Maus, Libya
1941 - Former Dutch premier De Geer flies to Berlin
1941 - United Service Organization (USO) founded
1942 - Clinton Pierce becomes 1st US general wounded in
action in WW II
1943 - Bertolt Brecht's "Der gute Mensch von
Sezuan," premieres in Zurich
1944 - Jean Anouilh's "Antigone," premieres in
Paris
1944 - US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein
1945 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin meet at Yalta
1946 - Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday," premieres
in NYC
1948 - Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) declares independence from
UK
1949 - Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia
1951 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Sonya
Klopfer
1951 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard
Button
Baseball Player Jackie RobinsonBaseball Player Jackie
Robinson 1952 - 1st black executive of a major TV station (Jackie Robinson-WNBC
NY)
1956 - AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during
spring training
1957 - 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale
(Syracuse NY)
1958 - "Oh, Captain!" opens at Alvin Theater NYC
for 192 performances
1958 - Hall of Fame fails to elect anyone for 1st time since
1950
1959 - Israel begins exporting copper ore
1960 - BBWAA voters fail to elect a new Hall of Fame member
1960 - Giants move their offices to Candlestick Park
1960 - Lionel Bart's musical "Fings ain't wot they used
t'be," premieres
1961 - Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus
probe failure
1962 - "Gay Life" closes at Shubert Theater NYC
after 113 performances
1962 - Russian newspaper Izvestia reports baseball is an old
Russian game
1962 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Barbara
Roles
1962 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Monty Hoyt
1964 - FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms
over Oklahoma City
Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier
Joseph Stalin 1965 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1966 - All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport
(Japan); kills 133
1967 - "Wild Thing" hits #20 on the pop singles
chart by Senator Bobby
1967 - US launches Lunar Orbiter 3
1968 - "Golden Rainbow" opens at Shubert Theater
NYC for 355 performances
1968 - Bowie Kuhn replaces William Eckert as 5th
commissioner of baseball
1969 - 41,163, then largest NBA crowd, watches doubleheader
Cin-Det, SD-Bost
1969 - Beatles appoint Eastman & Eastman, as general
cousel to Apple
1969 - John Madden is named head coach of NFL's Oakland
Raiders
1969 - Lonnie Elder's "Ceremonies in Dark Old
Men," premieres in NYC
1969 - Yassar Arafats takes over as chairman of PLO
1970 - "Charles Aznavour" opens at Music Box
Theater NYC for 23 performances
1970 - "Gantry" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC
for 1 performance
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 - Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for
blacks
1971 - British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself
bankrupt
1971 - Government exhibit under construction in Brazil
collapses, kills 65
1971 - National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in
Wilmington NC
1972 - 6th round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ends in
Vienna Austria
1972 - Senator Strom Thurmond suggests John Lennon be
deported
1973 - "No, No Nanette" closes at 46th St Theater
NYC after 861 performances
1973 - Islanders & Sabres had a penalty free game
1973 - Manfred Kokot runs world record 50m indoor (5.61 sec)
1973 - Reshef, Israel's missile boat, unveiled
1974 - Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½
months
1974 - Petroleum rationing ends in Netherlands
1974 - Patricia Hearst (19), daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst,
kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army
1975 - Haicheng earthquake, M 7.3, occurred in Haicheng,
Liaoning, China.
1976 - 12th Winter Olympic games opens in Innsbruck, Austria
1976 - 7.5 earthquake kills 22,778 in Guatemala &
Honduras
1976 - Judge Oliver upholds Seitz's decision on Andy
Messersmith free agency
1976 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1977 - 30th NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 4-3 at
Vancouver
1977 - Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11
die, 200 hurt)
1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" released
1977 - Wings release "Maybe I'm Amazed"
1979 - "Co-Ed Fever," TV Comedy, debut &
cancelled that outing on CBS
1979 - End of last 3+day D/N game for 15 yrs (WSC, SCG)
1979 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Colgate Triple Crown Golf
Tournament
1980 - Bani Sadr sworn in as premier of Iran
1980 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Whirlpool Golf Championship
of Deer Creek
1982 - "Pump Boys & Dinettes" opens at
Princess Theater NYC for 573 perfs
1982 - Indoor distance record for a paper airplane (47m)
Tacoma Wash
1982 - Musical "Pump Boys & Dinettes,"
premieres in NYC
1982 - Suriname premier Chin A Sen flees
1983 - Jose Happart becomes mayor of Voeren Belgium
1983 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott
Hamilton
1984 - "9" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 739
performances
1984 - "Backstage Magic" opens at CommuniCore
1984 - Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record
(168m) Las Vegas
1985 - 20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing
torture
1985 - Naval exercises canceled when US refuses to tell NZ
of nuclear weapons
1986 - 38th NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 4-3 (OT)
at Hartford
1986 - Israeli fighters intercept Libyan liner (passenger
plane)
US President & Actor Ronald ReaganUS President &
Actor Ronald Reagan 1987 - Pres Reagan's veto of Clean Water Act is overridden
by Congress
1987 - Stars & Stripes beats Australia's Kookaburra 3,
sweeps America's Cup
1987 - Sacramento Kings score only 4 points 1st quarter
against Lakers; fewest in a period since introduction of 24 second shot-clock
in 1954
1988 - Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega indicted on drug
charges
1989 - Dean Jones scores 216 v WI at the Adelaide Oval
1990 - 10 Israeli tourists murdered near Cairo
1990 - Anders Holmertz swims world record 400 m freestyle
(3:40.81)
1990 - Danny Everett runs world record 400m indoor (45:04)
1990 - Lyudmila Narozhi-Lenko runs world record 60m hurdles
indoor (7.69)
1990 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 27-21
1990 - Pat Bradley wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic
1990 - Richard Hadlee takes his 400th Test Cricket wicket
(Sanjay Manjrekar)
1990 - St Petersburg Pelicans beat West Palm Beach Tropics
12-4 to win 1st Senior Professional Baseball Association Championship
1991 - Hall of Fame's board of directors vote 12-0 to bar
Pete Rose
1991 - Martin Crowe & Andrew Jones make 467 stand v SL,
world record
1991 - US postage raises from 25 cents to 29 cents
1993 - Admiral Studeman, ends term as acting director of CIA
1993 - Marge Schott suspended from baseball for 1 year due
to racism
1993 - Russian space agency tests a 82-foot wide space
mirror
1994 - 10th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Live wins
1994 - 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartum Sudan
1994 - Merlene Ottey runs world record 50 m indoor (6.00
sec)
1994 - Russian team beats ladies world record 4x800 m indoor
(8:18.71)
1995 - Dean Jones completes 324* for Victoria v South
Australia
1995 - Sandra Volker swims female European record 50m
backstroke (27.77)
1995 - Zimbabwe's 1st Test Cricket victory, over Pakistan by
an inning
1996 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 20-13
1997 - Mario LeMieux is 7th NHL player to score 600 goals
NFL Running Back and Convicted Criminal OJ SimpsonNFL
Running Back and Convicted Criminal OJ Simpson 1997 - OJ Simpson found libel in
murders of Ron Goldman & Nicole Simpson
1997 - Secretary of State Margaret Albright announces she
just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish
1997 - En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53
troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel
killing 73.
1997 - After at first contesting the results, Serbian
President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November
1996 elections.
1998 - Bill Gates gets a pie thrown in his face in Brussels,
Belgium
1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in
northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
1999 - The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot
dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out,
inflaming race-relations in the city.
2000 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for
life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of
German railway lines.
2001 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 38-17
2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially
renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2006 - A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila
killing 71.
2007 - Super Bowl XLI: Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago
Bears, 29-17 at the Dolphin Stadium MVP: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis, QB
2012 - Tens of thousands of people are stranded by floods in
the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland
2013 - 20 people are killed after an apartment building was
struck by a rocket in Aleppo, Syria
Microsoft Founder Bill GatesMicrosoft Founder Bill Gates
2013 - 22 people are killed and 44 are injured after a suicide bombing in Taji,
Iraq
2013 - 8 people are killed and 30 are injured after a bus
collides with two vehicles and flips in Yucaipa, California
2013 - 22 people are killed and 24 are injured after a bus
and a truck collide in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
2013 - Europol announces it will investigate over 680
football matches alleged to involve match fixing
1783 - Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America. 1789 - Electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States. 1824 - J.W. Goodrich introduced rubber galoshes to the public. 1847 - In Maryland, the first U.S. Telegraph Company was established. 1861 - Delegates from six southern states met in Montgomery, AL, to form the Confederate States of America. 1865 - The Hawaiian Board of Education was formed. 1895 - The Van Buren Street Bridge opened in Chicago, IL. 1901 - "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines" opened in New York City. 1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began after Japan laid siege to Port Arthur. 1913 - Louis Perlman received a patent for his demountable tire-carrying rims. 1932 - The first Winter Olympics were held in the United States at Lake Placid, NY. 1935 - CBS radio presented "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" for the first time. 1936 - Radium E. became the first radioactive substance to be produced synthetically. 1938 - The play "Our Town", by Thornton Wilder, opened in New York City. 1941 - The United Service Organizations (USO) was created. 1945 - During World War II, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a conference at Yalta to outline plans for Germany's defeat. 1948 - Ceylon gained independence within the British Commonwealth. The country later became known as Sri Lanka. 1952 - Jackie Robinson was named Director of Communication for NBC. He was the first black executive of a major radio-TV network. 1953 - "The Stooge" premiered at the Paramount Theatre in New York City. 1957 - Smith-Corona Manufacturing Inc., of New York, began selling portable electric typewriters. The first machine weighed 19 pounds. 1964 - The Administrator of General Services announced that the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had been ratified. The amendment banned the poll tax. 1968 - The world's largest hovercraft was launched at Cowes, Isle of Wight. 1973 - The Reshef was unveiled as Israel's missile boat. 1974 - Patricia (Patty) Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, CA, by the Symbionese Liberation Army. 1976 - An earthquake in Guatemala and Honduras killed more than 22,000 people. 1985 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan's defense budget called for a tripling of the expenditure on the "Star Wars" research program. 1993 - Russian scientists unfurled a giant mirror in orbit and flashed a beam of sunlight across Europe during the night. Observers saw it only as a momentary flash. 1997 - A civil jury in California found O.J. Simpson liable in the death of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Goldman's parents were awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages. 1997 - Two Israeli troop-carrying helicopters collided on their way to Lebanon, all 73 soldiers and airmen aboard were killed. 1997 - President Milosevic of Serbia apparently surrendered to the will of his people, ordering his government to recognize opposition victories in local elections held in November 1996. 1997 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) scored his 600th National Hockey League (NHL) goal during his 719th game. Lemieux reached the milestone second fastest in history. Gretzky had reached the plateau during his 718th game. 1998 - In northeast Afghanistan, at least 5,000 people were killed in an earthquake that measured 6.1 on the Richter Scale. 1999 - Warplanes from Israel attacked south Lebanon just after rockets were fired toward Israel. No casualies were claimed on either side. 1999 - Gary Coleman was sentenced to a $400 fine, a suspended 90-day jail sentence, and ordered to attend 52 anger-management classes. The sentence stemmed from Coleman assaulting an autograph seeker on July 30, 1998. 1999 - Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was shot and killed in front of his Bronx home by four plainclothes New York City police officers. The officers had been conducting a nighttime search for a rape suspect. 2000 - Austrian President Thomas Klestil swore in a coalition government that included Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party. European Union sanctions were a result of the action. 2003 - Yugoslavia was formally dissolved by lawmakers. The country was replaced with a loose union of its remaining two republics, Serbia and Montenegro.
1783 England proclaimed the formal end to the hostilities with the United States. 1787 Shays's Rebellion, an uprising of Massachusetts farmers, was defeated. 1789 George Washington and John Adams are elected the president and vice president of the United States. 1861 Delegates from six southern states met at Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America. 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at the Yalta Conference. 1948 Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) gained independence from the United Kingdom. 1969 The Palestine National Congress appointed Yasir Arafat head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. 1974 Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. 1976 Benjamin Britten, British composer, died. 2003 The country of Yugoslavia disappeared, to be replaced by the loose federation of Serbia and Montenegro. 2004 The Massachusetts Supreme Court declared that gays had the right to marry.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb04.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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