03 February History
- 1160 - Emperor Frederick Barbarossa hurtles prisoners, including children, at the Italian city of Crema, forcing its surrender.
- 1238 - The Mongols take over Vladimir, Russia.
- 1690 - The first paper money in America is issued in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1783 - Spain recognizes United States' independence.
- 1904 - Colombian troops clash with U.S. Marines in Panama.
- 1908 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules that union-sponsored boycotts are illegal, and applies the Sherman Antitrust Act to labor as well as capital.
- 1912 - New U.S. football rules are set: field shortened to 100 yds.; touchdown counts six points instead of five; four downs are allowed instead of three; and the kickoff is moved from midfield to the 40 yd. line.
- 1917 - A German submarine sinks the U.S. liner Housatonic off coast of Sicily. The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
- 1920 - The Allies demand that 890 German military leaders stand trial for war crimes.
- 1927 - President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission to regulate the airwaves.
- 1943 - Finland begins talks with the Soviet Union.
- 1944 - The United States shells the Japanese homeland for the first time at Kurile Islands.
- 1945 - The Allies drop 3,000 tons of bombs on Berlin.
- 1945 - The month-long Battle of Manila begins.
- 1954 - Millions greet Queen Elizabeth in Sydney on her first royal trip to Australia.
- 1962 - President John F. Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba.
- 1966 - Soviet Luna 9 achieves soft landing on the moon.
- 1971 - OPEC decides to set oil prices without consulting buyers.
- 1984 - The Environmental Protection Agency orders a ban on the pesticide EDB for grain products.
03 February Birthdays
- 1809 - Felix Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream).
- 1811 - Horace Greely, founder of the New York Tribune and abolitionist.
- 1821 - Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman to get an MD from a U.S. medical school.
- 1874 - Gertrude Stein, poet and novelist (Three Lives, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas).
- 1894 - Norman Rockwell, artist and illustrator who painted scenes of small-town America. Most of his work appeared in the The Saturday Evening Post.
- 1898 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect.
- 1907 - James A. Michener, novelist (Tales of the South Pacific).
- 1909 - Simone Weil, philosopher, member of the French resistance in WWII.