Author: Redactor

On Feb. 3, 313, Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius met in Milan and signed a letter proclaiming a policy of religious freedom, known as the Edict of Milan, officially ending the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Constantine ruled the western parts of the empire and actively promoted Christianity. Licinius ruled the eastern parts of the empire and, though a pagan, was accepting a policy of toleration toward Christianity.

On Feb. 3, 1944, U.S. troops captured the Marshall Islands, occupied by the Japanese since 1914 and used as a base for military operations. The loss of live was relatively small, with 400 Americans killed in the assault by 53,000 soldiers.

On February 2, 1980, details of ABSCAM, an FBI operation to uncover political corruption, were released to the public. FBI agents had posed as representatives of Abdul Enterprises, a fictional business owned by an Arab sheik. Under FBI video surveillance, agents met with the officials and offered them money or other considerations in exchange for special favors, such as the approval of government contracts for companies in which the sheik had invested. Senator Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ), and five House members – John Jenrette (D-SC), Richard Kelly (R-FL), Raymond Lederer (D-PA), Michael Myers (D-PA), and Frank Thompson (D-NJ) – were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in separate trials in 1981. John Murtha (D-PA) was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the scandal, though never indicted or prosecuted. Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD) refused to take the bribe and was called a “hero” by Walter Cronkite.

On Feb. 2, 1943, the last of the German forces fighting at Stalingrad under General Field Marshall Friedrich von Paulus surrendered, despite Hitler’s order that, “The troops will defend themselves to the last!” The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircled Stalingrad. But with diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the cruelty of the Russian winter taking their toll, the Soviets launched a counteroffensive that encircled the Germans. Roughly half of the 280,000 men under Paulus’ command were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated, and the remaining 91,000 were taken to Soviet POW camps, from which only 5,000 ever returned.

On Feb. 1, 1790, the Supreme Court of the United States met for the first time in the Royal Exchange Building on New York City’s Broad Street, with Chief Justice John Jay of New York presiding. The U.S. Supreme Court was established by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution, which took effect in March 1789.

On Feb. 1, 1908, King Carlos I of Portugal and his eldest son, Luis Filipe, were assassinated by revolutionaries while riding in an open carriage through the streets of Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. Carlos’ second son, Manoel, succeeded him on the throne, but in October 1910 a republican revolution forced King Manoel II to abdicate and flee to England with the rest of the royal family. In the same year, Teofilo Braga, a well-known writer, was chosen the first president of the newly democratic republic of Portugal.

On Jan. 31, 1865, the United States Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, submitting it to the states for ratification. The Amendment’s main section reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

On Jan. 31, 1990, the first McDonald’s fast food restaurant opens in the Soviet Union. Having once traveled to Moscow, I’m exceedingly thankful for this.