The Almanac

Today is Friday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2004 with 329 to follow.

The moon is full. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter and Pluto. The evening stars are Venus, Mars, Saturn and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include England's Queen Anne in 1665; statesman Aaron Burr in 1756; baseball great George Herman "Babe" Ruth in 1895; former President Ronald Reagan in 1911 (age 93); actors Patrick MacNee in 1922 (age 82), Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1923 (age 81) and Rip Torn in 1931 (age 73); French film director Francois Truffaut in 1932; actors Mike Farrell in 1939 (age 65) and Michael Tucker in 1944 (age 60); television news anchorman Tom Brokaw in 1940 (age 64); handgun activist Sarah Brady in 1942 (age 62); singers Fabian Forte in 1943 (age 61) and Natalie Cole in 1950 (age 54); and actor/director Robert Townsend and actress Kathy Najimy, both in 1957 (age 47).

On this date in history:

In 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee was appointed commander in chief of the armies of the Confederacy.

In 1943, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of Allied expeditionary forces in North Africa. He later became World War II Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

In 1952, Princess Elizabeth became sovereign of Great Britain upon the death of her father, King George VI. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953.

In 1974, the Caribbean island of Grenada was declared independent and a member of the British Commonwealth.

In 1987, broad no-smoking rules took effect for 890,000 employees in 6,800 federal buildings nationwide.

In 1990, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl proposed unifying the currencies of East and West Germany.

In 1991, President Bush authorized the direct shipment of emergency medical supplies to the Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

In 1992, a military transport plane crashed into a restaurant and hotel in Evansville, Ind., killing 16 people.

In 1993, U.N Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali asked NATO for authority to order air strikes against Serb artillery positions in Bosnia.

In 1995, the House approved, 294-134, the line-item veto.

In 1996, Pat Buchanan won the Republican presidential caucuses in Louisiana.

In 1997, President Clinton sent Congress a $1.69 trillion budget he said would put the country on course for a balanced budget by 2002.

Also in 1997, the head of Mexico's leading anti-drug agency was forced to resign after evidence emerged that he'd taken brides from a drug cartel.

In 1998, President Clinton said he would never consider resigning because of allegations that he had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In 2001, controversial politician Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister of Israel.

In 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved deployment of the 101st Airborne Division and the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to the Persian Gulf region.

Also in 2003, three NATO members -- France, Germany and Belgium -- blocked deployment of military equipment to Turkey that the Turks could use in the event of an attack by Iraq.

A thought for the day: it was President Ronald Reagan who said, "You can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit."