Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” die in a plane crash

Born on This Day

Passport Photo Of Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein

1874 - 1946

Writer and art patron known for her avant-garde literary style. Her Paris apartment was a salon for leading modernist artists and writers.

American Painter Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell

1894 - 1978

Painter and illustrator known for his warm depictions of American life and culture for "The Saturday Evening Post."

"Dicks: The Musical" Premiere - Arrivals

Nathan Lane

1956 -

Actor known for work in theater and film, including "The Producers," "The Lion King" and "The Birdcage."

Gertrude SteinBettmann Archive

Norman RockwellBettmann Archive

Nathan LaneVariety via Getty Images

1953

FEB3

To halt a steep ratings slide, NBC's "Today Show" hires chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs to co-host. With a wardrobe of 450 outfits, and impressive comedic and piano chops, the simian star scored the network millions in ad sales.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on February 3rd

Earliest documented mass murder in U.S. history

In one of the most famous crimes of post-Revolution America, Barnett Davenport commits a mass murder in rural Connecticut. Caleb Mallory, his wife, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were killed in their home by their boarder, Davenport. It would contribute to a change in the way the young nation views crime and criminals. Davenport, born in […]

1:16m read

Samuel Clemens begins reporting as “Mark Twain”

One February 3, 1863, writing under the name of Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens begins publishing news stories in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. Born in Missouri in 1835, Clemens followed a circuitous route to becoming an observer and writer of the American West. As a young man he apprenticed as a printer and worked in […]

2:10m read

Belle Starr murdered in Oklahoma

The outlaw Belle Starr is killed when an unknown assailant fatally wounds the famous “Bandit Queen” with two shotgun blasts from behind. As with the lives of other famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James, fanciful accounts printed in newspapers and dime novels made Belle Starr’s harsh and violent life appear far more […]

2:34m read

Woodrow Wilson dies

Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, dies in Washington, D.C., at the age of 67. In 1912, Governor Wilson of New Jersey was elected president in a landslide Democratic victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. The focal point of President Wilson’s first term in office […]

2:04m read

U.S. troops capture the Marshall Islands

American forces invade and take control of the Marshall Islands, long occupied by the Japanese and used by them as a base for military operations. The Marshalls, east of the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, had been in Japanese hands since World War I. Occupied by the Japanese in 1914, they were made […]

2:04m read

Jacques Cousteau’s “The Silent World” is published

On February 3, 1953, French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau publishes The Silent World, a memoir about his time exploring the oceans. It became a highly acclaimed documentary in 1956. Born in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, France, in 1910, Cousteau was trained at the Brest Naval School. While serving in the French navy, he began his underwater explorations, filming shipwrecks and […]

2:06m read

Lunik 9 soft-lands on lunar surface

On February 3, 1966, the Soviet Union accomplishes the first controlled landing on the moon, when the unmanned spacecraft Lunik 9 touches down on the Ocean of Storms. After its soft landing, the circular capsule opened like a flower, deploying its antennas, and began transmitting photographs and television images back to Earth. The 220-pound landing […]

0:58m read

President Clinton ends trade embargo of Vietnam

President Bill Clinton lifts a 19-year-old trade embargo of the Republic of Vietnam. The embargo had been in place since 1975, when North Vietnamese forces captured the city of Saigon in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. President Clinton lifted the embargo primarily to encourage cooperative efforts between the U.S. and Vietnam to discover the […]

Marine jet severs ski-lift cable in Italy

On February 3, 1998, a U.S. Marine jet flying low over the town of Cavalese in the Italian Alps severs a ski-lift cable, sending a tram crashing to the ground and killing 20 people. Cavalese is located in the Dolomite Mountains, about 20 miles northeast of Trento, Italy. In 1976, 42 people there, including 15 […]

1:48m read

New England Patriots win their first Super Bowl title

On February 3, 2002, the New England Patriots shock football fans everywhere by defeating the heavily favored St. Louis Rams, 20-17, to take home their first Super Bowl victory. Pats’ kicker Adam Vinatieri made a 48-yard field goal to win the game just as the clock expired. Super Bowl XXXVI took place at the Superdome in […]

2:22m read

Alberto Gonzales becomes first Hispanic U.S. attorney general

Alberto Gonzales wins Senate confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic attorney general despite protests over his record on torture. He resigned in 2007.

2:04m read

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