February 03
1468
Johann Gutenberg, German printer and inventor, died.
1870
The 15th Amendment (Black suffrage) passed.
1913
The 16th Amendment, establishing federal income tax, was ratified.
1917
The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.
1959
Rock singers, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and Big Bopper died in a plane crash.
1969
The Palestine National Congress appointed Yasir Arafat head of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1995
Col. Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the space shuttle when the Discovery blasted off.
1998
Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1984.
Birthdays
Elizabeth Blackwell
1821–1910, American Physician.
Felix Mendelssohn
composer (1809)
Horace Greeley
newspaper editor and founder (1811)
Gertrude Stein
author (1874)
Norman Rockwell
illustrator (1894)
Alvar Aalto
architect and furniture designer (1898)
James Michener
author (1907)
Joey Bishop
comedian, ator (1918)
Linda Wachner
industry executive (1946)
J. Catherine Roberts
science teacher (1953)
Isla Fisher
comedian, ator (1976)