History Today

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 5th. There’s a lot of talk about the makeup of the Supreme Court in the news today, just as there was way back on this day in 1937, when President Franklin Roosevelt announced a controversial plan to expand the Supreme Court to as many as 15 judges, allegedly to make it more efficient.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 4th. In our most recent presidential election, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 74 votes in the Electoral College--306 to 232. On this day in 1789, however, and again in 1792, George Washington beat that margin by a considerable measure--winning his first and second elections unanimously. He’s the only president ever to have been unanimously elected.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 3rd. Today in history is known as the day the music died, when rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Ritchie Valens were killed when the small plane Holly chartered to take them to their next tour date crashed during stormy winter weather. The event inspired Don McLean to write the 1972 hit song American Pie.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 2nd. Today is Groundhog Day, which was first celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on this day in 1887. Groundhog Day grew out of the German tradition of using hedgehogs to help predict the length of the winter. When German immigrants moved to Pennsylvania, they replaced hedgehogs with American groundhogs, which are also known as woodchucks. Today, the country’s most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 1st. It’s one of those moments when most people remember exactly where they were--on this day in 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up while entering Earth’s atmosphere over Texas. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. Columbia, the first of America’s space shuttles, flew 28 missions and spent more than 300 days in space between 1981 and 2003. Also on this day in history: The U.S.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 31st. D-Day --that day in June, 1944, when Allied forces launched an amphibious invasion of Nazi-occupied France--is one of the most famous days in world history. But many people don’t know that D-Day almost happened a month earlier--that is, until it was postponed on this day in 1944 over concerns that there would not be enough ships available by May.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 29th. It’s the state that produces more of the nation’s wheat and wheat flour than any other--on this day in 1861, Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. Kansas achieved statehood after a bitter--and violent--debate over whether it would be admitted as a slaveholding or “free” state.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 25th.

They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but we’re pretty sure anyone would be happy to have the massive rock that was found on this day in 1905. That’s when miners in South Africa uncovered the 3,100-carat Cullinan diamond.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 26th.

As football fans gear up for Super Bowl 53, we remember a classic showdown between the Super Bowl-shuffling Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots, on this day in 1986.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 27th.

Donald Trump isn’t the only president with a background in entertainment: Ronald Reagan was a successful actor before getting into politics.