TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, FEB. 2, the 33rd day of 2017. There are 332 days left in the year. This is Groundhog Day.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1887, Punxsutawney, Pa., held its first Groundhog Day festival.

In 1653, New Amsterdam — now New York City — was incorporated. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, was signed.

In 1914, Charles Chaplin made his movie debut as the comedy short “Making a Living” was released by Keystone Film Co. The musical “Shameen Dhu,” featuring the song “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral,” opened on Broadway. In 1925, the legendary Alaska Serum Run ended as the last of a series of dog mushers brought a life-saving treatment to Nome, the scene of a diphtheria epidemic, six days after the drug left Nenana.

In 1932, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra recorded “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” for Brunswick Records.

In 1942, a Los Angeles Times column by W.H. Anderson urged security measures against Japanese-Americans, arguing that a Japanese-American “almost inevitably ... grows up to be a Japanese, not an American.”

In 1959, public schools in Arlington and Norfolk, Virginia, were racially desegregated without incident.

In 1971, Idi Amin, having seized power in Uganda, proclaimed himself president.

In 1980, NBC News reported the FBI had conducted a sting operation targeting members of Congress using phony Arab businessmen in what became known as “Abscam,” a codename protested by Arab-Americans.

In 1990, in a dramatic concession to South Africa’s black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Gossip columnist Liz Smith is 94. Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing is 91. Actor Robert Mandan is 85. Comedian Tom Smothers is 80.