Today is Saturday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2024 with 332 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.
Advertisement
1 of 3 | An 1870 print celebrating the passage of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It decreed that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. File Photo by Thomas Kelly/Library of Congress
Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1480; German composer Felix Mendelssohn in 1809; U.S. journalist Horace Greeley in 1811; Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor of medicine, in 1821; poet/novelist Gertrude Stein in 1874; artist Norman Rockwell in 1894; gangster Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd in 1904; author James Michener in 1907; comedian Shelley Berman in 1925; actor John Fiedler in 1925; football Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton in 1940 (age 84); actor Blythe Danner in 1943 (age 81); football Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese in 1945 (age 79); musician Dave Davies in 1947 (age 77); Nobel Peace Prize laureate Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo in 1948 (age 76); actor Morgan Fairchild in 1950 (age 74); actor Pamela Franklin in 1950 (age 74); actor Nathan Lane in 1956 (age 68); actor Thomas Calabro in 1959 (age 65); actor Maura Tierney in 1965 (age 59); professional golfer Retief Goosen in 1969 (age 55); Joseph "Beau" Biden III, son of President Joe Biden/Delaware attorney general, in 1969; actor Warwick Davis in 1970 (age 54); filmmaker Anthony Russo in 1970 (age 54); actor Isla Fisher in 1976 (age 48); singer Daddy Yankee, born Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, in 1977 (age 47); actor Maitland Ward in 1977 (age 47); human rights lawyer Amal Clooney in 1978 (age 46); actor Bridget Regan in 1982 (age 42); entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes in 1984 (age 40); rapper Sean Kingston in 1990 (age 34).
Advertisement
On this date in history:
In 1690, Massachusetts Colony issued the first paper money in America.
In 1783, Spain recognized the independence of the United States from Great Britain.
In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It decreed that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
In 1913, the 16th Amendment, allowing establishment of an income tax, became part of the U.S. Constitution after ratification by Wyoming.
In 1917, the United States severed relations with Germany following the former's announcing its intention of waging unrestricted submarine warfare the previous day, on Feb. 2, 1917.
In 1924, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, died in Washington at the age of 67.
In 1959, singers Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens, and their pilot, Roger Peterson, were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
In 1966, the Soviet Union accomplished the first controlled landing on the moon when the unmanned spacecraft Luna 9 touched down on the Ocean of Storms.
Advertisement
In 1994, the United States ended a trade embargo on Vietnam after 19 years.
In 1994, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off into space with the first Russian cosmonaut aboard a U.S. spacecraft.
In 1998, Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, the first female inmate to be put to death by the state in 135 years.
In 1998, a U.S. Marine jet clipped a cable car wire in a northern Italian ski resort, killing 20 people.
In 2004, the discovery of the lethal poison ricin in the mailroom of U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the Senate majority leader, forced the temporary closing of three Senate office buildings in Washington.
In 2005, 104 people aboard an Afghan airliner died when it crashed in the mountains near Kabul. It was Afghanistan's worst air disaster.
In 2006, an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, an accident that killed nearly 1,000 people.
In 2009, Eric Holder became the first Black attorney general, succeeding Michael Mukasey under the Obama administration.
Advertisement
In 2011, the New York City Council approved a measure banning smoking in 1,700 parks and along 14 miles of beaches.
In 2022, U.S. forces conducted a counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria that killed the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
A thought for the day: "Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind." -- British writer Walter Bagehot
