Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
February 4
| 786 | Harun al-Rashid succeeds his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of Baghdad. | |
| 1194 | Richard I, King of England, is freed from captivity in Germany. | |
| 1508 | The Proclamation of Trent is made. | |
| 1787 | Shay’s Rebellion, an uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers against the new U.S. government, fails. | |
| 1795 | France abolishes slavery in her territories and confers slaves to citizens. | |
| 1889 | Harry Longabaugh is released from Sundance Prison in Wyoming, thereby acquiring the famous nickname, “the Sundance Kid.” | |
| 1899 | After an exchange of gunfire, fighting breaks out between American troops and Filipinos near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War | |
| 1906 | The New York Police Department begins finger print identification. | |
| 1909 | California law segregates Caucasian and Japanese schoolchildren. | |
| 1915 | Germany decrees British waters as part of the war zone; all ships to be sunk without warning. | |
| 1923 | French troops take the territories of Offenburg, Appenweier and Buhl in the Ruhr as a part of the agreement ending World War I. | |
| 1932 | Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurates the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y. | |
| 1941 | The United Service Organization (U.S.O.) is formed to cater to armed forces and defense industries. | |
| 1944 | The Japanese attack the Indian Seventh Army in Burma. | |
| 1945 | The Big Three, American, British and Soviet leaders, meet in Yalta to discuss the war aims. | |
| 1966 | Senate Foreign Relations Committee begins televised hearings on the Vietnam War. | |
| 1980 | Syria withdraws its peacekeeping force in Beirut. | |
| 1986 | The U.S. Post Office issues a commemorative stamp featuring Sojourner Truth. | |
| Born on February 4 | ||
| 1881 | Fernand Leger, French painter. | |
| 1900 | Jacques Prevert, French poet, screenwriter (The Visitors of the Evening, The Children of Paradise). | |
| 1902 | Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic. | |
| 1906 | Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Protestant theologian. | |
| 1906 | Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer, discovered Pluto. | |
| 1913 | Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist. | |
| 1921 | Betty Friedan, writer, feminist, founded the National Organization of Women in 1966. | |
| 1925 | Russell Hoban, artist and writer (Bedtime for Frances, The Mouse and His Child). | |
| 1932 | Robert Coover, novelist & short story writer. | |
| 1947 | Dan Quayle, vice president under President George H.W. Bush. | |
– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history#sthash.fNGS84mj.dpuf
