Today is Wednesday, Feb. 5, the 36th day of 2025. There are 329 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Feb. 5, 1971, Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell stepped onto the surface of the moon in the first of two lunar excursions.
Also on this date:
In 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, an act that severely curtailed Asian immigration and mandated immigrant literacy testing.
In 1918, more than 200 people were killed during World War I when the Cunard liner SS Tuscania, which was transporting over 2,000 American troops to Europe, was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Irish Sea.
In 1973, services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for U.S. Army Col. William B. Nolde, the last official American combat casualty before the Vietnam ceasefire took effect.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, granting workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family emergencies.
In 1994, white separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, Mississippi, of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963 and was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2017, Tom Brady led one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, highlighted by a spectacular Julian Edelman catch that helped lift New England from a 25-point deficit against the Atlanta Falcons to the Patriots’ fifth Super Bowl victory, 34-28; it was the first Super Bowl to end in overtime.
In 2020, the Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump, bringing to a close the third presidential trial in American history. Though a majority of senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment, just one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, broke with the GOP and voted to convict.
In 2023, Beyoncé won her 32nd Grammy to become the most decorated artist in the history of the award.
Today’s birthdays:
- Tony-winning playwright John Guare is 87.
- Football Hall of Famer Roger Staubach is 83.
- Film director Michael Mann is 82.
- Actor Charlotte Rampling is 79.
- Racing Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip is 78.
- Actor Barbara Hershey is 77.
- Actor Christopher Guest is 77.
- Actor-comedian Tim Meadows is 64.
- Actor Jennifer Jason Leigh is 63.
- Actor Laura Linney is 61.
- Rock musician Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) is 61.
- Golf Hall of Famer Jose Maria Olazabal is 59.
- Actor-comedian Chris Parnell is 58.
- Singer Bobby Brown is 56.
- Actor Michael Sheen is 56.
- Country singer Sara Evans is 54.
- Actor-singer Darren Criss is 38.
- Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is 40.
- Actor Henry Golding is 38.
- Soccer star Neymar is 33.