02 February History
- 962 - Otto I invades Italy and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1032 - Conrad II claims the throne of France.
- 1494 - Columbus begins the practice using Indians as slaves.
- 1571 - All eight members of a Jesuit mission in Virginia are murdered by Indians who pretended to be their friends.
- 1626 - Charles I is crowned King of England. Fierce internal struggles between the monarchy and Parliament characterized 17th century English politics.
- 1848 - The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo formally ends the Mexican War.
- 1865 - Confederate raider William Quantrill and his bushwackers rob citizens, burn a railroad depot and steal horses from Midway, Kentucky.
- 1870 - The press agencies Havas, Reuter and Wolff sign an agreement whereby between them they can cover the whole world.
- 1876 - The National Baseball League is founded with eight teams.
- 1900 - Six cities, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago and St. Louis agree to form baseball's American League.
- 1901 - Mexican government troops are badly beaten by Yaqui Indians.
- 1916 - U.S. Senate votes independence for Philippines, effective in 1921.
- 1921 - Airmail service opens between New York and San Francisco. Airmail's First Day.
- 1934 - Alfred Rosenberg is made philosophical chief of the Nazi Party.
- 1939 - Hungary breaks relations with the Soviet Union.
- 1943 - Last of the German strongholds at Stalingrad surrender to the Red army.
- 1944 - The Germans stop an Allied attack at Anzio, Italy.
- 1945 - Some 1,200 Royal Air Force planes blast Wiesbaden and Karlsruhe.
- 1948 - The United States and Italy sign a pact of friendship, commerce and navigation.
- 1959 - Arlington and Norfolk, Va., peacefully desegregate public schools.
- 1960 - The U.S. Senate approves 23rd Amendment calling for a ban on the poll tax.
- 1972 - The Winter Olympics begin in Sapporo, Japan.
- 1978 - U.S. Jewish leaders bar a meeting with Egypt's Anwar Sadat.
- 1987 - Largest steel strike in American history, in progress since August, ends.
02 February Birthdays
- 1754 - Charles Maurice de Tallyrand-Perigord, minister of foreign affairs for Napoleon I, who represented France brilliantly at the Congress of Vienna.
- 1882 - James Joyce, Irish novelist and poet (Ulysses, Portrait of a Young Man).
- 1890 - Charles Correl, radio performer.
- 1895 - George Halas, National Football League co-founder.