Today in History

Today is Friday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2022. 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 1861, delegates from six Southern states that had recently seceded from the Union met in Montgomery, Alabama, to form the Confederate States of America.

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 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: Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney cruised to a decisive victory in the Nevada caucuses. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers won the 2011 Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player award in a landslide. 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.

Five years ago: The Justice Department appealed a judge's order temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's refugee and immigration ban, saying it was the "sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens in order to protect national security. Running backs LaDainian Tomlinson and Terrell Davis and quarterback Kurt Warner were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

One year ago: Former President Donald Trump rejected a request from House Democrats that he testify under oath at his second Senate impeachment trial. A fiercely divided House tossed Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia off both of her committees, an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said she'd earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories. A voting technology company, Smartmatic USA, sued Fox News, three of its hosts and two former Trump lawyers -- Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell -- for $2.7 billion, for allegedly conspiring to spread false claims that the company helped "steal" the presidential election. Johnson & Johnson asked U.S. regulators to clear the world's first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a new statewide mask order after the Republican-controlled Legislature repealed his previous mandate. (The state Supreme Court would strike down the mask mandate nearly two months later.)

Today's Birthdays: Actor Jerry Adler is 93. Former Argentinian President Isabel Peron is 91. Actor Gary Conway is 86. Actor John Schuck is 82. Rock musician John Steel (The Animals) is 81. Singer Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension) is 80. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is 75. Rock singer Alice Cooper is 74. Actor Michael Beck is 73. Actor Lisa Eichhorn is 70. Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor is 63. Actor Pamelyn Ferdin is 63. Rock singer Tim Booth is 62. Rock musician Henry Bogdan is 61. Country singer Clint Black is 60. Rock musician Noodles (The Offspring) is 59. Actor Gabrielle Anwar is 52. Actor Rob Corddry is 51. Singer David Garza is 51. Actor Michael Goorjian is 51. TV personality Nicolle Wallace is 50. Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 49. Rock musician Rick Burch (Jimmy Eat World) is 47. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 47. Rapper Cam'ron is 46. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw is 45. Rock singer Zoe Manville is 38. Actor/musician Bashy, AKA Ashley Thomas, is 37. Actor Charlie Barnett is 34. Olympic gold medal gymnast-turned-singer Carly Patterson is 34. Actor Kyla Kenedy (cq) (TV: "Speechless") is 19.