Notable Events on February 4th Throughout History

Notable Events on February 4th Throughout History

Today is February 4th, 2026, marking the 35th day of the year with 330 days remaining. On this day in history, Patricia Hearst, a newspaper heiress, was kidnapped by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army in California in 1974. In 1789, George Washington was unanimously chosen as the first president of the United States by electors. John Marshall assumed the role of chief justice of the United States in 1801, serving for 34 years. A significant wartime conference involving President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began in Yalta in 1945. A devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck Guatemala in 1976, claiming over 23,000 lives. O.J. Simpson was found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend in a civil jury trial in Santa Monica, California in 1997. Mark Zuckerberg launched "TheFacebook" in 2004, which later evolved into Facebook. In 2013, British scientists confirmed the discovery of King Richard III's skeletal remains beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England. In 2023, the U.S. intercepted a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, sparking controversy over its alleged military surveillance capabilities. China denied the accusations, claiming it was a weather balloon mishap.