Today in History

Today’s highlight:

On Feb. 2, 1653, New Amsterdam — now New York City — was incorporated.

On this date:

1876: The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.

1887: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, held its first Groundhog Day festival.

1913: New York City’s rebuilt Grand Central Terminal officially opened to the public at one minute past midnight.

1922: The James

Joyce novel “Ulysses” was published in Paris on Joyce’s 40th birthday.

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.

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.”

1943: The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

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

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.

1988: President Ronald Reagan pressed his case for additional aid to the Nicaraguan Contras a day ahead of a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives. The three major broadcast TV networks declined to carry the speech, which was covered by CNN; a divided House voted to reject Reagan’s request for $36.2 million in new aid.

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.

2002: Inside the World Economic Forum in New York, foreign economic leaders criticized the United States for protectionist policies while outside, thousands of protesters demonstrated against global capitalism.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama, speaking in Nashua, New Hampshire, branded Republicans as electoral opportunists more concerned about their own interests than the people’s.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama sent Congress a record $4 trillion budget that would boost tax credits for families and the working poor but also raise taxes on the wealthy.

One year ago: A day after the United States abandoned a 1987 nuclear arms treaty, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would do the same, but would only deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles if Washington did so.