ROCK SINGER BUDDY HOLLY DEAD
Buddy Holly, age 22, died today in a plane crash along with Ritchie Valens, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, & pilot Roger Peterson. The plane went down near Clear Lake, Iowa.
Holly & his group, "The Crickets", had just made #1 on the rock charts with their hit: "That'll Be The Day."*
*In 1972, Don McLean will memorialize the event with his hit: "American Pie" which describes February 3, 1959 as "the day the music died".
"Buddy Holly" was Charles Hardin Holley
February 3, 1966
SOVIET SPACE CRAFT LANDS ON THE MOON
The USSR successfully "soft landed" an unmanned space craft on the moon today. The "Lunik 9" weighing 220 pounds then opened, deployed its antennas & began transmitting photographs & television images back to earth.*
*The United States will successfully land the 1st manned space craft on the moon in 1969 meeting the goal set by President Kennedy in 1961 to "land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth before the end of the decade".
February 3, 1994
PRESIDENT CLINTON ENDS TRADE EMBARGO
The United States trade embargo with Vietnam ended today. The announcement was made by President Bill Clinton. The President, a Democrat, was supported in this decision by Republican Arizona Senator John McCain who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.
Senator McCain said that it is time to "normalize" relations with our former enemy.*
*In June 1995, the Clinton administration will establish full diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
February 3, 2005
GONZALES SWORN IN AS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Vice President Dick Cheney swore in the 1st Hispanic attorney general of the United States today in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
Gonzales, born in 1955, is the son of migrant workers. He attended the Air Force Academy, Rice University & Harvard.
Governor of Texas at the time, George W. Bush, appointed Gonzales as his general counsel to the Governor & then as President appointed him as general counsel in the White House.
February 3, 1924
FORMER PRESIDENT WILSON DIES
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, died today in Washington, D.C. at the age of 67. He had suffered a major stroke in 1919 but was able to complete his second term.
The President, born in Virginia, continued to live in Washington after he left office & is to become the 1st President to be buried in the National Cathedral.
February 3, 1950
SOVIET SPY ARRESTED
Klaus Fuchs, German-born British atomic scientist, has been arrested for passing top secret information to the USSR.
Fuchs, who earned his doctorate in Great Britain after fleeing Nazi Germany, came to the United States in 1943 to work on the Manhattan Project.*
*Fuchs would serve 9 years in prison. Released in 1959, he returned to East Germany where he became a lecturer in physics.
*Note to visitors. I will be "on the road" the next few days but will try to continue my daily postings. My posting times, however, may be later than usual.
