Other Notable Events, February 4

In 1789, George Washington of Virginia, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, was elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast votes. John Adams of Massachusetts was elected vice president.

In 1792, George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as U.S. president in a vote of the Electoral College.

In 1861, at a convention in Montgomery, Ala., six states -- Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina -- elected Jefferson Davis president of the Confederacy.

Also in 1861, the 25-year period of conflict known as the Apache War began at Apache Pass, Ariz., with the arrest of Apache Chief Cochise for raiding a ranch. Cochise escaped his U.S. Army captors and declared war.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler seized control of the German army and put Nazi officers in key posts as part of a plan that led to World War II.

In 1974, urban guerrillas abducted Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, from her apartment in Berkeley, Calif.

In 1976, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale killed nearly 23,000 people in Guatemala and Honduras.

In 1997, a jury in a civil trial in Santa Monica, Calif., found O.J. Simpson liable in the killings of his former wife and her friend, and was ordered to pay a total of $33.5 million to the families. Simpson had been acquitted in his murder trial.

In 2004, a Pakistani scientist considered the key figure in his country's nuclear weaponry development admitted he leaked that technology to other countries.

Also in 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Court refused to allow civil union as a substitute for same-sex marriage.

In 2006, widespread Muslim protests of published caricatures depicting Muhammad in a negative light turned violent. Angry demonstrators smashed windows, set fires and burned flags and Syrian mobs burned Danish and Norwegian embassies.

Also in 2006, nearly 100 people were killed and more than 250 injured in a stampede at a Philippine stadium where thousands were on hand for a popular game show.

In 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush introduced a $3.1 trillion budget for fiscal 2009, including proposed increases in military spending but cutbacks in most domestic programs.

In 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 8.1 percent, auto sales sank and housing starts were at their lowest annual level in at least half a century.

In 2010, authorities in earthquake devastated Haiti charged 10 American missionaries with child abduction and conspiracy after they allegedly tried to take 33 children across the border to a Dominican Republic orphanage without official permission.

In 2011, the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January, compared with 9.4 in December. The U.S. Labor Department, however, said non-farm payrolls expanded only 36,000 for the month.

In 2012, the Syrian military launched a brutal attack on the opposition stronghold city of Homs, killing a reported 260 people and wounding hundreds more in a four-hour assault. Russia and China vetoed an effort by the U.N. Security Council to end the violence in Syria with an Arab Nation peace plan.