TODAY IN HISTORY
Today’s highlight:
On Feb. 3, 1959, rock ’n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
On this date:
In 1865, President Abra- ham Lincoln and Confed- erate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.
In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic rela- tions with Germany, the s ame day an American cargo ship, the SS Housa- tonic, was sunk by a U-boat off Britain after the crew was allowed to board lifeboats.
In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship SS Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo in the Labrador Sea; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived.
In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.
In 1994, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.
In 1995, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lieu- tenant Colonel Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time in NASA history.
In 1998, a U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, causing the car to plunge hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.
In 2006, an Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.
In 2009, Eric Holder became the first Black U.S. attorney general as he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden.
In 2020, in closing arguments at President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, Democratic prosecutors urged senators to stop a “runaway presidency”
a nd recogni z e Trump’s actions in Ukraine as part of a pattern of behavior that would allow him to “cheat” in the 2020 election; Trump’s defenders accused Democrats of trying to undo the 2016 election and said voters should decide Trump’s fate.
Five years ago: The New York Times reported an accusation from actress Uma Thurman that disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had forced himself on her sexually years ago in a London hotel room; Weinstein acknowledged making an “awkward pass” but strongly denied any physical assault.
One year ago: Winter storms across the United States knocked out power to hundreds of thousands, brought the cancellation of more than 9,000 flights, caused a deadly tornado in Alabama and brought rare measurable snowfall to parts of Texas. President Joe Biden announced that the leader of the Islamic State group blew up himself and members of his family during a raid by U.S. special operations forces of his hideout in the village of Atmeh, Syria. U.S. officials called it a “significant blow” to the radical militant organization.