Historical Events on February 4

  • 1789: The United States Electoral College votes unanimously to make George Washington the 1st President of the U.S.
  • 1794: Throughout the territories of the French First Republic, slavery is abolished. However, it will slavery will be established in the French West Indies at the beginning of the 19th
  • 1825: Construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal is approved by the Ohio Legislature.
  • 1846: Mormon pioneers travel from Illinois to Salt Lake Valley.
  • 1861: Delegates from the 6 U.S States which seceded from the Union, meet in Montgomery, Alabama and form the Confederate States of America.
  • 1899: The Battle of Manila is the opening shot in the Philippine American War.
  • 1941: The USO (United Service Organization) is organized as a way to serve and entertain American troops.
  • 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference in the Crimea.
  • 1945: A number of different battles occur between British Indian forces and Japanese forces on this day.
  • 1975: In Haicheng, China, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake erupts.
  • 1976: Honduras and Guatemala suffer through an earthquake that kills more than 20,000 people.
  • 1998: Over 2300 people are killed and another 800+ are injured by an earthquake that strike the Takhar Province in Afghanistan.
  • 1999: West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot over 40+ times by a plainclothes New York City police officer. Mr. Diallo was unarmed.

Famous Birthdays on February 4

  • French poet and screenwriter, Jacques Prevert is born in 1900.
  • American pilot and explorer, Charles Lindbergh is born in 1902.
  • American author and screenwriter, MacKinlay Kantor is born in 1904.
  • American astronomer and discoverer of Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh is born in 1906.
  • English poet Julian Bell is born in 1908.
  • American civil rights activist, Rosa Parks is born in 1913.
  • American director, screenwriter and producer, George A. Romero is born in 1940.
  • American singer and actress, Florence LaRue is born in 1944.
  • American singer-songwriter Alice Cooper is born in 1948.
  • American actor Michael Beck is born in 1949.