3 February: Planes Crash; Boats Sink; Patriots Go Down In Flames; Boredom & Dissipation Mount

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2010. There are 331 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Feb. 3, 1943, 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. Four Army chaplains gave their life belts to four other men, and went down with the ship.
On this date:
In 1377, 2,000 people in Cesena, Italy, were killed by Papal Troops in what became known as the Cesena Bloodbath.
In 1690, the first paper money in America was issued by the colony of Massachusetts.
In 1783, Spain recognizes the independence of the United States from Great Britain.
In 1809, German composer Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg. Congress passed an act establishing the Illinois Territory effective March 1.
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 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, decreeing that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.
In 1916, Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.
In 1917, The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
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 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 1969, Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee during a council meeting in Cairo, Egypt.
In 1971, Apollo 14 astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell landed on the lunar sufrace during the third successful manned mission to the moon.
In 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon signed into law the Endangered Species Act.
In 1988, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected President Ronald Reagan's request for more than $36 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.
In 1989, Alfredo Stroessner, president of Paraguay for more than three decades, was overthrown in a military coup.
In 1992, angry rhetoric escalated between the United States and Japan when Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa accused U.S. workers of lacking a "work ethic."
AP sez: In 1994, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot's seat for the first time.
UPI sez: In 1994, the shuttle Discovery blasted off into space with the first Russian astronaut aboard a U.S. spacecraft. Also in 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the United States was lifting its trade embargo against Vietnam.
In 1998, Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker for the pickax killings of two people in 1983.
Karla Faye Tucker
A U.S. Marine jet sliced through a ski gondola cable in Italy, sending the car's 20 occupants plunging 370 feet to their deaths.
In 1999, The Clinton administration told Congress a NATO-led peacekeeping force could be needed in Kosovo for three to five years and might include up to 4,000 American troops.
In 2000, the flight data recorder from Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was recovered from the Pacific Ocean off California. The Senate voted 89-4 to confirm Alan Greenspan for a fourth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Richard Kleindienst, who had served as U.S. attorney general during the Nixon administration and resigned during the Watergate scandal, died in Prescott, Ariz. at age 76.
In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush sent lawmakers a $2.23 trillion budget for 2004, including major new tax cuts and a big increase in defense spending, projecting a deficit of $307.4 billion.
In 2004, John Kerry won Democratic presidential contests in five out of seven states. Work in the U.S. Senate slowed to a crawl, a day after ricin powder was found in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
In 2005, Alberto Gonzales won Senate confirmation as attorney general. An interim report detailed conflicts of interest and flawed management in the U.N. oil-for-food program. An Afghan passenger jet carrying 104 people crashed east of Kabul, killing all on board. Also in 2005, more than 50 people died when a train rammed a trailer carrying a wedding party at a railroad crossing in India.
In 2006, an Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.
In 2007, a truck bomb exploded in a Baghdad market killing at least 135 and injuring more than 300.
In 2008, the New York Giants scored a late touchdown for a spectacular Super Bowl win, 17-14, that ended the New England Patriots' run at perfection. Strong earthquakes in the Great Lakes region of Africa, centering on Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, killed at least 30 people and injured more than 300 others. Also in 2008, Serbian President Boris Tadic, a pro-Western leader who favors closer ties with the United States, won re-election over a hard-line Radical Party candidate.
In 2009, Eric Holder became the first black U.S. attorney general as he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden. The White House announced that Tom Daschle had asked to be removed from consideration as health and human services secretary after acknowledging he'd failed to pay all his taxes. Iran sent its first domestically made satellite, Omid ("hope"), into orbit.
Today's Birthdays: Comedian Shelley Berman is 84. Former Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) is 77. Football Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton is 70. Actress Bridget Hanley is 69. Actress Blythe Danner is 67.

Singer Dennis Edwards is 67. Football Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese is 65. Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 63. Singer Melanie is 63. Actress Morgan Fairchild is 60. Actor Nathan Lane is 54. Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 54. Actor Thomas Calabro is 51. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 49. Actress Michele Greene is 48. Country singer Matraca (muh-TRAY'-suh) Berg is 46. Actress Maura Tierney is 45. Actor Warwick Davis is 40. Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 34. Musician Grant Barry is 33. Singer-songwriter Jessica Harp is 28. Rapper Sean Kingston is 20.
Those Born On This Date Include: U.S. journalist Horace Greeley (1811); Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor of medicine (1821); poet and novelist Gertrude Stein (1874); artist Norman Rockwell (1894); gangster Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (1904); author James Michener (1907); comedian Joey Bishop (1918).
Today In Entertainment History
In 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash in Iowa. Holly was 22, Valens was 17 and the Big Bopper was 28.

In 1967, Jimi Hendrix recorded "Purple Haze" in London. It was released in March in the U.K. as a follow-up to his first British single "Hey Joe."
In 1968, Paul McCartney recorded "Lady Madonna" at the Abbey Road studios. The record is credited to The Beatles, but McCartney played with unknown session musicians.
In 1969, The Beatles, over objections from Paul McCartney, hired manager Allen Klein to straighten out the band's financial affairs. The band's mismanagement and money problems eventually led to its breakup.
In 1978, Harry Chapin met with President Carter at the White House as Carter announced the establishment of a commission on hunger. Chapin spent months lobbying Congress for the creation of the commission.
In 1993, singer Gloria Estefan got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with about 400 fans and family members on hand.
In 1996, actress Audrey Meadows died of cancer in Los Angeles. She was 71.
In 2003, authorities arrested producer Phil Spector at his mansion in suburban Los Angeles. The body of actress Lana Clarkson had been found in the foyer.
In 2007, The Dixie Chicks won five Grammys, including album of the year for "Taking the Long Way." The album had been largely ignored by country music stations.
Thought for Today: "Your friend will argue with you." — Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer (1918-2008). [How long did it take him to come up w/ that? — Ed.]