On This Day

What Happened on February 2 in History

8 events that happened on February 2, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.

The Young Republic and the Civil War Era

1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the Mexican-American War.
Mexico gave up a vast area that became California, Nevada, Utah and parts of several other states, and accepted the Rio Grande as the border with Texas. In return the United States agreed to pay 15 million dollars and take on certain claims against Mexico.
Source: history.com; archives.gov
1876
Baseball's National League is founded at a meeting in New York City.
Team owners led by William Hulbert of Chicago formed the league to replace a loosely run players' association and to bring order to schedules, contracts and gambling problems. It is the oldest professional baseball league still in operation.
Source: history.com

1913
Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.
The Beaux-Arts station replaced an older depot on the same site and put its tracks underground, which made room for new development above them along Park Avenue. Saved from demolition in the 1970s, it remains one of the busiest and best known rail stations in the country.
Source: history.com
1925
Sled dog teams deliver diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, after a relay across the frozen interior.
With an outbreak threatening the town's children and no way to fly the medicine in, mushers carried it from a railhead at Nenana in relays. Gunnar Kaasen's team, led by the dog Balto, reached Nome before dawn, and the run later inspired the Iditarod race.
Source: pbs.org
1943
The last German forces at Stalingrad surrender, ending one of the largest battles in history.
Soviet armies had encircled the German Sixth Army in the ruined city the previous November. The defeat cost Germany an entire army and is widely seen as the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com

1948
President Harry Truman sends Congress a special message calling for federal civil rights laws.
Truman asked for a federal anti-lynching law, stronger protection of voting rights, a permanent civil rights commission and an end to unfair job discrimination. Congress passed none of his proposals that year, and he later used executive orders, including the desegregation of the armed forces.
Source: trumanlibrary.gov; presidency.ucsb.edu
1971
Nations meeting in Ramsar, Iran, adopt the first global treaty to protect wetlands.
The Convention on Wetlands asks member countries to name important wetlands for an international list and to manage them wisely. It entered into force in 1975, and the date of its adoption is now marked each year as World Wetlands Day.
Source: unesco.org
1990
South African President F. W. de Klerk lifts the ban on the ANC and announces Nelson Mandela's coming release.
In a speech opening Parliament, de Klerk legalized the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid groups. Mandela walked free nine days later, and talks followed that ended white minority rule with elections in 1994.
Source: pbs.org; nobelprize.org