February 3 in history — What Happened Today in History

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.

New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.

The Soviet Union's Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.

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.

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

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.

Sixty-five people are killed when American Airlines Flight 320 crashes into the East River on approach to LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

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

The Batepá massacre occurs in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleash a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.

World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.

World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.

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

The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.

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

The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.

The Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a "Unification Conference" held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.

A revolt against the military dictatorship of Portugal breaks out at Porto.

The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,630 meters) long.

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

The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of seven lives.

The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.

Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.

The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.

José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.

The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.

A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.

Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.

James White, American football player

Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter

Jia, Chinese singer and actress

Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer

Cho Kyu-hyun, South Korean singer

Elvana Gjata, Albanian singer

Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater

Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress

Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress

Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player

Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos

Matthew Moy, American actor

Becky Bayless, American wrestler

Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (born 1929)

Cardiss Collins, American politician (born 1931)

Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (born 1921)

James Muri, American soldier and pilot (born 1918)

Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (born 1954)

Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (born 1921)

Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (born 1930)

Terence Hildner, American general (born 1962)

Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1961)

Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (born 1942)

Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (born 1938)

Maria Schneider, French actress (born 1952)

Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (born 1926)