This day in history

[February 03, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2011. There are 331 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Feb. 3, 1959, rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

On this date:

In 1811, American newspaper editor Horace Greeley was born in Amherst, N.H.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

In 1924, the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington, D.C., at age 67.

In 1930, the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.)

In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived.

In 1959, An American Airlines Lockheed Electra crashed into New York's East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.

In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

In 1971, New York City police officer Frank Serpico, who had charged there was widespread corruption in the NYPD, was shot and seriously wounded during a drug bust in Brooklyn.

In 1991, the rate for a first-class postage stamp rose to 29 cents.

Ten years ago: Terry McAuliffe was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The XFL, a football league founded by the World Wrestling Federation and jointly owned by NBC, held its first two games, in which the Las Vegas Outlaws beat the New York/New Jersey Hitmen 19-0, and the Orlando Rage beat the Chicago Enforcers 33-29. (However, the XFL folded after just one season.)

Five years ago: An Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers. Twenty-three al-Qaida prisoners escaped from a Yemeni prison, including one convicted of the 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole. Actor Al Lewis ("The Munsters") died in New York (he was probably 82, although he'd claimed to have been born in 1910, which would have made him 95).

One year ago: A suicide bomber killed seven people in northwestern Pakistan, including three U.S. soldiers. Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray was arrested on manslaughter charges after three people died following a northern Arizona sweat lodge ceremony he'd led in Oct. 2009. Actress Frances Reid, 95, died in Los Angeles.

Today's birthdays: Comedian Shelley Berman is 85. Former Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) is 78. Football Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton is 71. Actress Bridget Hanley is 70. Actress Blythe Danner is 68. Singer Dennis Edwards is 68. Football Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese is 66. Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 64. Singer Melanie is 64. Actress Morgan Fairchild is 61. Actor Nathan Lane is 55. Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 55. Actor Thomas Calabro is 52. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 50. Actress Michele Greene is 49. Country singer Matraca (muh-TRAY'-suh) Berg is 47. Actress Maura Tierney is 46. Actor Warwick Davis is 41. Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 35. Musician Grant Barry is 34. Singer-songwriter Jessica Harp is 29. Rapper Sean Kingston is 21.

Thought for today: "Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character." -- Horace Greeley (1811-1872)

[Associated Press]

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