Today in History

Today is Saturday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2023. There are 330 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Feb. 4, 1783, Britain's King George III proclaimed a formal cessation of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.

On this date:

In 1789, electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.

In 1801, John Marshall was confirmed by the Senate as chief justice of the United States.

In 1913, Rosa Parks, a Black woman whose 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white man sparked a civil rights revolution, was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

In 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, 19, was kidnapped in Berkeley, California, by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army.

In 1976, more than 23,000 people died when a severe earthquake struck Guatemala with a magnitude of 7.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 1977, eleven people were killed when two Chicago Transit Authority trains collided on an elevated track.

In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica, California, found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

In 1999, senators at President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial voted to permit the showing of portions of Monica Lewinsky's videotaped deposition.

In 2004, the social networking website Facebook had its beginnings as Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook."

In 2012, Florence Green, who had served with the Women's Royal Air Force and was recognized as the last veteran of World War I, died in King's Lynn, eastern England, at age 110.

In 2020, thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong were on strike for a second day to demand that the country's border with China be completely closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus; the territory reported its first death from the virus and the second known fatality outside China.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama signed a bill temporarily raising the government's $16.4 trillion borrowing limit, averting a default. British scientists announced they had rescued the skeletal remains of King Richard III, who lived during the 15th century, from the anonymity of a drab municipal parking lot. For the fifth straight week there was a new No. 1 in The Associated Press' men's college basketball poll: Indiana. Reg Presley, 71, lead singer for the Troggs on "Wild Thing," died in Andover, England.

Five years ago: The Philadelphia Eagles, led by backup quarterback Nick Foles, became NFL champs for the first time since 1960, beating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 41-33 in the Super Bowl. An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a parked freight train in the early-morning darkness in South Carolina after a thrown switch sent it hurtling down a side track; the conductor and engineer were killed and more than 100 passengers were injured. Actor John Mahoney, who played the dad of two psychiatrists on the TV show "Frasier," died in Chicago at the age of 77.

One year ago: Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the Winter Olympics open at a ceremony at Beijing's Bird Nest Stadium. The Olympic flame was delivered by athletes Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a member of the country's Uyghur Muslim minority, which Western governments and human rights groups say China has oppressed on a massive scale. The Republican National Committee censured Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois at the party's winter meeting for serving on the committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 insurrection.

Today's birthdays: Actor Jerry Adler is 94. Former Argentinian President Isabel Peron is 92. Actor Gary Conway is 87. Actor John Schuck is 83. Rock musician John Steel (The Animals) is 82. Singer Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension) is 81. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is 76. Rock singer Alice Cooper is 75. Actor Michael Beck is 74. Actor Lisa Eichhorn is 71. Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor is 64. Actor Pamelyn Ferdin is 64. Rock singer Tim Booth is 63. Rock musician Henry Bogdan is 62. Country singer Clint Black is 61. Rock musician Noodles (The Offspring) is 60. Actor Gabrielle Anwar is 53. Actor Rob Corddry is 52. Singer David Garza is 52. Actor Michael Goorjian is 52. TV personality Nicolle Wallace is 51. Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 50. Rock musician Rick Burch (Jimmy Eat World) is 48. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 48. Rapper Cam'ron is 47. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw is 46. Rock singer Zoe Manville is 39. Actor/musician Bashy, AKA Ashley Thomas, is 38. Actor Charlie Barnett is 35. Olympic gold medal gymnast-turned-singer Carly Patterson is 35. Actor Kyla Kenedy (TV: "Speechless") is 20.