Today in History
Today is Saturday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2017. There are 330 days
left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 4, 1789,
electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the
United States. On this date: In 1783, Britain's King George III
proclaimed a formal cessation of hostilities in the American
Revolutionary War. In 1861, delegates from six southern states that had
recently seceded from the Union met in Montgomery, Alabama, to form the
Confederate States of America. In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D.
Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid. In 1941, the
United Service Organizations (USO) came into existence. In 1945,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at
Yalta. In 1962, a rare conjunction of the sun, the moon, Mercury,
Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn occurred. In 1974, newspaper
heiress Patricia Hearst, 19, was kidnapped in Berkeley, California, by
the radical Symbionese Liberation Army. In 1977, 11 people were killed
when two Chicago Transit Authority trains collided on an elevated
track. In 1983, pop singer-musician Karen Carpenter died in Downey,
California, at age 32. In 1987, pianist Liberace died at his Palm
Springs, California, home at age 67. In 1997, a civil jury in Santa
Monica, California, found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his
ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In 2004,
the Massachusetts high court declared that gay couples were entitled to
nothing less than marriage, and that Vermont-style civil unions would
not suffice. The social networking website Facebook had its beginnings
as Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook. Ten years
ago: The Indianapolis Colts won Super Bowl XLI (41), beating the
Chicago Bears 29-17. Singer-actress Barbara McNair died in Los Angeles
at age 72. Five years ago: Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security
Council resolution aimed at ending Syria's bloodshed. Republican
presidential front-runner Mitt Romney cruised to a decisive victory in
the Nevada caucuses. Running back Curtis Martin, the fourth-leading
rusher in NFL history, and linemen Chris Doleman, Cortez Kennedy,
Willie Roaf and Dermontti Dawson were elected to the Pro Football Hall
of Fame, along with senior committee choice Jack Butler. Green Bay
quarterback Aaron Rodgers won the 2011 Associated Press NFL Most
Valuable Player award in a landslide. Florence Green, who had served
with the Women's Royal Air Force and was recognized as the last veteran
of World War I, died in King's Lynn, eastern England, at age 110. One
year ago: In their first one-on-one debate, Hillary Clinton accused
Bernie Sanders of subjecting her to an "artful smear" by trying to cast
her as beholden to Wall Street interests while Sanders suggested the
former secretary of state was a captive of America's political
establishment during the Democratic faceoff in Durham, New Hampshire.
Infuriating members of Congress, a smirking Martin Shkreli took the
Fifth at a Capitol Hill hearing on his practice of jacking up drug
prices as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Six family members were found
dead in their Chicago home. (Two suspects, one of them related to the
victims by marriage, have been charged with first-degree murder.)
Today's Birthdays: Actor William Phipps is 95. Former Argentinian
President Isabel Peron is 86. Actor Gary Conway is 81. Movie director
George A. Romero is 77. Actor John Schuck is 77. Rock musician John
Steel (The Animals) is 76. Singer Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension)
is 75. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is 70. Rock singer Alice Cooper
is 69. Actor Michael Beck is 68. Actress Lisa Eichhorn is 65. Football
Hall-of-Famer Lawrence Taylor is 58. Actress Pamelyn Ferdin is 58. Rock
singer Tim Booth is 57. Rock musician Henry Bogdan is 56. Country
singer Clint Black is 55. Rock musician Noodles (The Offspring) is 54.
Country musician Dave Buchanan (Yankee Grey) is 51. Actress Gabrielle
Anwar is 47. Actor Rob Corddry is 46. Singer David (dah-VEED') Garza is
46. Actor Michael Goorjian is 46. TV personality Nicolle Wallace is 45.
Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 44. Rock musician Rick
Burch (Jimmy Eat World) is 42. Singer Natalie Imbruglia
(em-BROO'-lee-ah) is 42. Rapper Cam'ron is 41. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw
is 40. Actor Charlie Barnett is 29. Olympic gold medal
gymnast-turned-singer Carly Patterson is 29. Thought for Today: "Life
is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death. Miguel de
Unamuno (oo-nah-MOO'-noh), Spanish philosopher (1864-1936).
