Today’s Date: Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026
Today marks the 35th day of 2026, with 330 days remaining in the year.
Historical Events on this Day:
On Feb. 4, 1974, Patricia Hearst, the newspaper heiress, was kidnapped in California by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army. She was later involved in a bank robbery with the group, leading to her conviction for bank robbery. Her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter and she was eventually pardoned.
Other significant events on Feb. 4:
- In 1789, George Washington was unanimously chosen by electors as the first president of the United States.
- In 1801, John Marshall assumed the position of chief justice of the United States, a role he held for 34 years.
- In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.
- In 1976, over 23,000 people died in a severe earthquake in Guatemala with a magnitude of 7.5.
- In 1997, O.J. Simpson was found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend, leading to a civil jury ordering him to pay $33.5 million to the victims’ families.
- In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched “TheFacebook” while a student at Harvard University, which later became Facebook.
- In 2013, British scientists confirmed the skeletal remains found beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, to be those of 15th-century monarch King Richard III.
- In 2023, the U.S. intercepted a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, sparking controversy between the two nations.
Birthdays Celebrated Today:
- Former Argentine President Isabel Peron turns 95.
- Rock singer Alice Cooper celebrates his 78th birthday.
- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is 73 today.
- Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor marks his 67th birthday.
- Country singer Clint Black turns 64.
- Boxing Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya is 53 today.
- Singer Natalie Imbruglia celebrates her 51st birthday.
- Rapper Cam’ron turns 50.
- Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw is 49 today.
- Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Carly Patterson celebrates her 38th birthday.
- Actor Edvin Ryding turns 23 today.
