Today in History for Feb. 4, 2013

Today is Monday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2013. There are 330 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Feb. 4, 1913, Rosa Parks, a black woman whose 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus to a white man sparked a civil rights revolution, was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Ala.

On this date:

In 1783, Britain’s King George III proclaimed a formal cessation of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.

In 1789, electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.

In 1861, delegates from six southern states that had recently seceded from the Union met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.

In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid.

In 1938, the Thornton Wilder play “Our Town” opened on Broadway. Walt Disney’s animated feature “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” opened in general U.S. release.

In 1941, the United Service Organizations (USO) came into existence.

In 1962, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was founded in Memphis, Tenn., by entertainer Danny Thomas.

In 1972, Mariner 9, orbiting Mars, transmitted images of the red planet.

In 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

In 1976, more than 23,000 people died when a severe earthquake struck Guatemala with a magnitude of 7.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 1983, pop singer-musician Karen Carpenter died in Downey at age 32.

In 1987, pianist Liberace died at his Palm Springs home at age 67.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he led a tribute to the lost crew of the shuttle Columbia and rededicated the nation to space travel. A rare television interview with Saddam Hussein aired in which the Iraqi leader denied that Baghdad had a relationship with al-Qaida or weapons of mass destruction. Lawmakers formally dissolved Yugoslavia and replaced it with a loose union of its remaining two republics, Serbia and Montenegro. Opera singer Jerome Hines died in New York at age 81.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush proposed a record $3.1 trillion budget that included huge deficits. Thomas S. Monson was introduced as the 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, succeeding the late Gordon B. Hinckley. Harry Richard Landis, the next-to-last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, died near Tampa, Fla., at age 108. (The last surviving U.S. World War I vet, Frank Buckles, died in February 2011.)

One year ago: Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ending Syria’s bloodshed. Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney cruised to a decisive victory in the Nevada caucuses. Running back Curtis Martin, the fourth-leading rusher in NFL history, and linemen Chris Doleman, Cortez Kennedy, Willie Roaf and Dermontti Dawson were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with senior committee choice Jack Butler. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers won the 2011 Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player award in a landslide. Florence Green, who had served with the Women’s Royal Air Force and was recognized as the last veteran of World War I, died in King’s Lynn, eastern England, at age 110.

Today’s birthdays: Actor William Phipps is 91. Former Argentinian President Isabel Peron is 82. Comedian David Brenner is 77. Actor Gary Conway is 77. Movie director George A. Romero is 73. Rock musician John Steel (The Animals) is 72. Singer Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension) is 69. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is 66. Rock singer Alice Cooper is 65. Actor Michael Beck is 64. Actress Lisa Eichhorn is 61. Football Hall-of-Famer Lawrence Taylor is 54. Rock singer Tim Booth is 53. Rock musician Henry Bogdan is 52. Country singer Clint Black is 51. Rock musician Noodles (The Offspring) is 50. Country musician Dave Buchanan (Yankee Grey) is 47. Actress Gabrielle Anwar is 43. Actor Rob Corddry is 42. Singer David Garza is 42. Actor Michael Goorjian is 42. Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 40. Rock musician Rick Burch (Jimmy Eat World) is 38. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 38. Rapper Cam’ron is 37. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw is 36. Olympic gold medal gymnast-turned-singer Carly Patterson is 25.

Thought for today: “Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.” — Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher (1864-1936).