February 2
Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa.. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of Winter weather; no shadow means an early Spring. – 1887.
The last German troops in the Soviet city of Stalingrad surrender to the Red Army to end one of the pivotal battles of World War II. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was determined to liberate the city named after him, and in November 1942 he ordered massive reinforcements to the area. General Zhukov November 19, 1942 launched a great Soviet counteroffensive out of the rubble of Stalingrad. German command underestimate the scale of the counterattack, and the 200,000-troop German Sixth Army was quickly overwhelmed by the offensive, which involved 500,000 Soviet troops, 900 tanks, and 1,400 aircraft. Within three days, the entire German force was encircled. Only 90,000 German soldiers were still alive by the time the Germans surrendered, and of these only 5,000 troops survived the Soviet prisoner-of-war camps. – 1943.
February 3
U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Wages and Hours, later Fair Labor Standards Act, which bans child labor and establishes the 40-hour work-week. – 1941.
Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorehead, Minn. The tragedy was called “The Day That Music Died.” – 1959.
February 4
George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president. – 1789.
In the very early morning of February 4, 1976, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake levels much of Guatemala City and kills 23,000 persons and leaves one million homeless. – 1976.
February 5
President Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave Act. The law requires most employers of 50 or more workers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a family for medical emergency. – 1993.
In what turns out to be a bad business decision, Circuit City fires 3,900 experienced sales representatives because they’re making too much money in commissions. Sales plummet. Duh. – 2003.
February 6
Ironworkers from six cities meet in Pittsburgh, Pa. to form the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers of America. Their pay in Pittsburgh at the time: $2.75 for a nine-hour day. – 1896.
After a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dies in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the eldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father’s death. Her coronation as Queen Elizabeth II was June 2, 1953, at age 27. – 1952.
February 7
A violent series of earthquakes near Missouri causes a so-called fluvial tsunami in the Mississippi River which actually made the river run backwards for several hours. The series of tremors, which took place between December 1811 and March 1812, were the most powerful in the history of the United States, estimated at a magnitude of 8.8. – 1812.
In Baltimore, Md., a small fire in the business district is wind-whipped into an uncontrollable conflagration that engulfs a large portion of the city by evening. When the blaze finally burned out after 31 hours, an 80-block area of the downtown area had been destroyed. More than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and 1,000 severely damaged to bring property loss from the disaster to an estimated $100 million. – 1904.
The Central Committee of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party agrees to endorse president Mikhail Gorbachev’s recommendation that the party give up its 70-year long monopoly of political power. The Committee’s decision to allow political challenges in Russia was another signal of the impending collapse of the Soviet system. – 1990.
February 8
Following the Russian rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan launches a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. The Russian fleet was decimated. – 1904.
A severe blizzard in New England finally subsides, and the region begins to dig out from under several feet of snow. Over the previous 72 hours, some areas of Rhode Island and Massachusetts had received as many as 55 inches of snow. – 1978.