Today in History: February 3, final night of ‘Roots’ sets TV ratings record
Tony Szikil’s photographs hang inside the Marina Shore ballroom on Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, where, 50 years ago, he photographed rock and roll legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper Richardson in Kenosha, Wis. Szikil had been booked for a wedding at what was then known as the Eagles Ballroom on 58th Street, but the current of what would endure as timeless music was fiercely tugging at him. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Scott Anderson)
Today in History:
On Feb. 3, 1977, the final night of the miniseries “Roots” based on Alex Haley’s novel about Kunte Kinte, a teen captured in Africa and sold into slavery in North America, received the highest ratings for a TV episode to that point.
On this date:
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 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.
In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, the same day an American cargo ship, the SS Housatonic, was sunk by a U-boat off Britain after the crew was allowed to board lifeboats.
In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship SS Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo in the Labrador Sea; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived.
In 1959, on what would become known as “the day the music died,” rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.
In 1988, the U.S. House of Representatives handed President Ronald Reagan a major defeat, rejecting his request for $36.2 million in new aid to the Nicaraguan Contras by a vote of 219-211.
In 1994, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev (SUR’-gay KREE’-kuh-lev), the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.
In 1995, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time in NASA history.
In 1998, a U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, causing the car to plunge hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.
In 2006, an Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.
In 2009, Eric Holder became the first Black U.S. attorney general as he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden.
In 2013, Christopher Dorner, a fired Los Angeles police officer launched a revenge war on law enforcement and the families of those he blamed for ending his career, killing four people during a 6-day manhunt that ended with his suicide in a mountain cabin.
In 2018, linebacker Ray Lewis and receiver Terrell Owens were among eight people voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In 2020, in closing arguments at President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, Democratic prosecutors urged senators to stop a “runaway presidency” and recognize Trump’s actions in Ukraine as part of a pattern of behavior that would allow him to “cheat” in the 2020 election; Trump’s defenders accused Democrats of trying to undo the 2016 election and said voters should decide Trump’s fate.
In 2021, country music star Morgan Wallen was suspended from his label and his music was pulled by radio stations and streaming services after a video surfaced showed him shouting a racial slur.