✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 34th day of the year

February 3

A look at February 3 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Joachim Löw and Blythe Danner, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♒ZodiacAquarius ◈BirthstoneAmethyst ❀Birth flowerViolet
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Events

10 notable moments
  1. 2023

    East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment

    Ohio train derailment: A freight train containing vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derails and burns in East Palestine, Ohio, United States, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and contaminating the Ohio River.

    2023 disaster in Ohio,
  2. 1989

    Stroke

    After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.

    Death of a region
  3. 1972

    1972 Iran blizzard

    The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.

    Deadliest blizzard in history
  4. 1961

    United States Air Force

    The United States Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.

    Air service branch of
  5. 1960

    Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

    British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", signalling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation.

    Head of government of
  6. 1959

    Buddy Holly

    Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died.

    American musician (1936–1959)
  7. 1958

    Benelux

    Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.

    Western European politico-economic union
  8. 1944

    World War II

    World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.

    1939–1945 global conflict
  9. 1933

    Adolf Hitler

    Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Nazi foreign policy.

    Dictator of Germany from
  10. 1917

    World War I

    World War I: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.

    1914–1918 global conflict
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Famous birthday twins

Born on February 3

Joachim Löw

b. 1960

German footballer and manager

Blythe Danner

b. 1943

American actress

Felix Mendelssohn

b. 1809

German pianist, composer, and conductor

Angela Fong

b. 1985

Canadian wrestler and actress

Carl Theodor Dreyer

b. 1889

Danish director and screenwriter

Emile Griffith

b. 1938

American boxer and trainer

Michael Cimino

b. 1939

American director, producer, and screenwriter

Hugo Junkers

b. 1859

German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1

Deaths

  • 2019Julie Adams, American actress
  • 2005Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist
  • 1989John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1959Buddy Holly, American musician
  • 1924Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1468Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the printing press

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Ansgar
  • —Christian feast day: Berlinda of Meerbeke
  • —Christian feast day: Blaise
  • —Christian feast day: Celsa and Nona
  • —Christian feast day: Claudine Thévenet
  • —Christian feast day: Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
  • —Christian feast day: Hadelin

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