This day in history Feb 3rd

U.S. 
1959 U.S.A. Buddy Holly 

3rd February, 1959 : Rock 'n' Roll singers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson ( The Big Bopper ) died in a plane crash today along with the pilot when their chartered plane went down near Mason City, Iowa. The deaths are immortalized in the "The Day the Music Died" by Don McLean. 


India 
1986 India Mother Teresa 

3rd February, 1986: The Pope meets Mother Teresa, and visited her refuge for the sick and dying. Her Missionaries of Charity order, now has 4,500 sisters in 133 countries providing food and shelter and hospices for the dying. 

U.S. 
1919 U.S.A. League of Nations 

3rd February, 1919 : The first meeting of the League of Nations was held on this day. President Woodrow Wilson was head of this committee. The purpose of this committee was to promote international security as well as world peace.

This organization was later replaced by the present-day United Nations (UN). The goals of the UN are very similar to the goals of the League of Nations.

U.S. 
1927 U.S.A. Federal Radio Commission Created 

3rd February, 1927 : President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill on this day that created the Federal Radio Commission. This is the organization that issues licenses in the present day for people to broadcast over the radio.

New Zealand 
1931 New Zealand Earthquake Napier 

3rd February, 1931 : A major earthquake and fire devastated the area of Hawke's Bay region and the city of Napier in New Zealand and surrounding towns and villages, the city is still ablaze and virtually helpless with local hospitals also burned to the ground and 10,000 major injuries. The death toll is expected to reach many hundreds when rescuers can get into the collapsed buildings. Local inhabitants are planning to sleep on the beach as this appears to be the only safe place currently

U.S. 
1931 U.S.A. Sir Malcolm Campbell 

3rd February, 1931 : Sir Malcolm Campbell has bought his bluebird racing machine to Daytona Beach for an attempt on the world land speed record of 231 MPH . In an unofficial test he achieved 240 MPH so is confident of breaking the record. He went on to break the record on February 5, 1931 at Daytona Beach, USA with Blue Bird achieving 253.96 MPH

U.S. 
1933 U.S.A. Fire 

3rd February, 1933 : Nine women fled back to their rooms during the time that a fire was taking place in a mental hospital. As a result, they had died, despite efforts of workers to help them out of the building.

U.S. 
1937 U.S.A. Flood Control Improvements 

3rd February, 1937 : President Roosevelt had presented a request to Congress for almost three billion dollars ($2,750,000,000) money for flood control improvements. This money was to be spent on improving dikes and levee systems in areas such as the Ohio River and lower Mississippi River.

Germany 
1945 Germany Operation Thunderclap 

3rd February, 1945 : 1,000 B-17's of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin.

Canada 
1947 Canada Coldest Recorded Temperature In North America 

3rd February, 1947 : Snag, Yukon records the lowest temperature for North America of −63 °C (−81.4 °F). 

U.S. 
1948 U.S.A. Big Tailfins 

3rd February, 1948 : Late in the 40's the first of the next generation of car design ( tailfins )is seen for the first time on the Cadillac

UK 
1950 Great Britain Russian Spy 

3rd February, 1950 : Klaus Fuchs one of the scientists who came to Britain following the end of World War II and helped develop the atomic bomb, is arrested for passing top secret information about the bomb to the Soviet Union

France 
1953 France Jacques Cousteau 

3rd February, 1953 : The well known oceanographer Jacques Cousteau’s last and most famous book The Silent World is published.