Home / Discover Significant Historical Events by Month: A Year in Review / January Events Through History

January Events Through History

January Events

  • 1:Human Resources Month
  • 1:March of Dimes Birth Defects Prevention Month
  • 1:National Careers in Cosmetology Month
  • 1:National Eye Health Care Month
  • 1:National Fiber Focus Month
  • 1:National Hobby Month
  • 1:National Oatmeal Month
  • 1:National Soup Month
  • 1:National Volunteer Blood Donor Month
  • 1:Prune Breakfast Month
  • : Events depending on weekdays
  • U(1/14):Meitlisunntig (Switzerland) (second Sunday).
  • M(1/19):Plough Monday (Monday after 1/12).
  • M(1/21):Lee-Jackson-King Day (Virginia) (third Monday).
  • M(1/21):Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday (third Monday).
  • M(1/21):National Clean-Off-Your-Desk Day (third Monday).
  • M(1/21):Robert E. Lee’s Birthday (Alabama and Mississippi).
  • F(1/21):Hat Day (third friday).
  • S(1/21):Hot and Spicy Food International Day (third Saturday).
  • U(1/21):World Religion Day (third Sunday).
  • F(1/28):Spouse’s Day (fourth Friday).
  • U(1/28):Lee Birthday Celebrations (Virginia) (fourth Sunday).
  • T(1/31):Up Helly AA (Scotland) (last Tuesday).
  • S(1/31):Rattlesnake Round-up (last Saturday).
  • : Normal events
  • 1/1 :Anniversary of the Triumph of the Rvolution (Cuba).
  • 1/1 :Announcement of ten best puns of the Year (Canada).
  • 1/1 :Bonza Bottler Day.
  • 1/1 :Independence Day (Haiti and Sudan).
  • 1/1 :Mummers New Year’s Day Parade (Philadelphia).
  • 1/1 :New Year’s Day.
  • 1/1 :Shi ho hai, Worship of the Four Directions (Japan).
  • 1/1 :Universal Fraternity Day (Mazambique).
  • 1/1 :Z Day (recognition to people and places whose names begin with Z).
  • 1/1/1660 :Samuel Pepys recorded the first entry in his diary.
  • 1/1/1673 :Regular mail delivery (mounted) began between New York City and
  • :Boston.
  • 1/1/1716 :William Wycherley, playwright (“The Country Wife”), died.
  • 1/1/1737 :Pier Antonio Micheli, botanist, died.
  • 1/1/1785 :First issue of London Times published.
  • 1/1/1787 :Arthur Middleton, American Revolutionary leader, died.
  • 1/1/1801 :First asteroid discovered (Ceres).
  • 1/1/1804 :Hatian proclamation of independence.
  • 1/1/1808 :It became illegal to import slaves to the US.
  • 1/1/1833 :Britain declared sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
  • 1/1/1863 :US Emancipation Proclamation took effect.
  • 1/1/1892 :Ellis Island opened for processing arriving immigrants to US.
  • 1/1/1899 :Cuba liberated from Spanish rule.
  • 1/1/1901 :The Commonwealth of Australia created.
  • 1/1/1902 :First “Rose Bowl” (Michigan 49, Stanford 0).
  • 1/1/1908 :First correspondence school in aviation opened (New York City).
  • 1/1/1928 :”The Chinese Parrot”, first self-contained Charlie Chan film,
  • :released.
  • 1/1/1939 :Hewlett-Packard formed (1/31?).
  • 1/1/1946 :Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade debuted on CBS radio.
  • 1/1/1953 :Hank Williams, country-western singer, died.
  • 1/1/1956 :Sudan proclaimed a sovereign independent republic.
  • 1/1/1959 :Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro ended.
  • 1/1/1969 :Council on Environmental Quality established.
  • 1/1/1970 :Beginning of time for Unix systems.
  • 1/1/1975 :Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman convicted on all counts
  • :(Watergate).
  • 1/1/1978 :Copyright revision law went into effect.
  • 1/1/1984 :Divestiture of AT&T.
  • 1/1/1992 :Rear Admiral Grace Hopper died.
  • 1/1/1994 :Cesar Romero, actor, died.
  • 1/2 :Ancestors Day (Haiti).
  • 1/2 :Kakizome (Japan).
  • 1/2 :New Years Holiday (UK and Ireland).
  • 1/2 :Passport Presentation (USSR).
  • 1/2 :Saint Berchtold’s Day (Switzerland).
  • 1/2/1521 :Martin Luther banned by a papal bull.
  • 1/2/1788 :Georgia became the fourth US state.
  • 1/2/1800 :Free black commission of Philadelphia petitioned US Congress to
  • :abolish slavery.
  • 1/2/1870 :Construction of Brooklyn Bridge began. (1/3?)
  • 1/2/1882 :Standard Oil Co of Ohio organized as a trust.
  • 1/2/1893 :First commemorative US postage stamp issued (Columbia issue).
  • 1/2/1921 :Religious services first broadcast on radio (KDKA, Pittsburgh).
  • 1/2/1935 :Lindbergh kidnapping trial began.
  • 1/2/1942 :Japanese forces occupied Manila.
  • 1/2/1942 :Sinclair Lewis and Dorothy Thompson divorced.
  • 1/2/1959 :Luna 1 (USSR) (first flyby of the Moon) launched.
  • 1/2/1965 :Joe Namath signed a contract with the New York Jets ($427,000).
  • 1/2/1968 :Second successful heart transplant performed (Dr. Christiaan
  • :Barnard).
  • 1/2/1971 :”No Fault” divorce law effective in California.
  • 1/2/1971 :US Congress banned radio and TV advertising of cigarettes.
  • 1/2/1974 :55 mph speed limit established by US Congress.
  • 1/3 :Genshi sai, Second Official New Year Holiday (Japan).
  • 1/3 :New Years Holiday (Scotland).
  • 1/3 :Revolution Day (Upper Volta).
  • 1/3 :US Congress Assembles.
  • 1/3/1777 :Battle of Princeton (New Jersey).
  • 1/3/1795 :Josiah Wedgewood, English pottery designer and manufacturer, died.
  • 1/3/1825 :Robert Owen bought 30,000 acres for New Harmony, Indiana.
  • 1/3/1863 :Battle of Stone’s River (Tennessee) ended.
  • 1/3/1870 :Brooklyn Bridge groundbreaking. (1/2?)
  • 1/3/1872 :First US patent list issued.
  • 1/3/1920 :Babe Ruth sold to New York Yankees by Boston Red Sox.
  • 1/3/1923 :Jaroslav Hasek, novelist (“The Good Soldier Schweik”), died.
  • 1/3/1925 :Oldest greyhound track (Derby Lane) opened.
  • 1/3/1938 :First “March of Dimes” anti-polio campaign organized.
  • 1/3/1947 :Opening of US Congress first televised.
  • 1/3/1952 :”Dragnet” premiered on NBC-TV.
  • 1/3/1958 :Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole.
  • 1/3/1959 :Alaska became the 49th US state.
  • 1/3/1961 :Experimental reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho killed three workers.
  • 1/3/1961 :US severed diplomatic ties with Cuba.
  • 1/3/1964 :Russia first bought Wheat from the US.
  • 1/3/1967 :Jack Ruby, assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, died.
  • 1/3/1969 :30,000 copies of “Two Virgins” confiscated in Newark, New Jersey
  • :for pornography violations.
  • 1/3/1973 :George Steinbrenner bought the New York Yankees.
  • 1/3/1977 :Apple Computer founded.
  • 1/3/1980 :Alfred Hitchcock knighted.
  • 1/3/1980 :BSD Unix 3.0 released.
  • 1/3/1986 :Liberty Foundation (political party organized by Jerry Falwell)
  • :formed.
  • 1/3/1993 :Johnny Most, Boston Celtics announcer, died.
  • 1/4 :Independence Day (Myanmar).
  • 1/4 :Martyrs Day (Zaire).
  • 1/4 :Trivia Day.
  • 1/4/1780 :Snowstorm hit Washington’s army at Morristown, New Jersey.
  • 1/4/1789 :Thomas Nelson, signer of the Declaration of Independence, died.
  • 1/4/1790 :First address delivered to US Congress (George Washington).
  • 1/4/1821 :First US-born saint (Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton) died.
  • 1/4/1885 :First US appendectomy performed (Dr. William Grant of Davenport,
  • :Iowa).
  • 1/4/1896 :Utah became the 45th US state.
  • 1/4/1937 :10,000 Italian troops landed in Spain to aid in the Spanish Civil
  • :War.
  • 1/4/1941 :Henri Bergson, French philosopher, died.
  • 1/4/1941 :Screen version of “High Sierra” released.
  • 1/4/1948 :Burma became an independent nation.
  • 1/4/1951 :Chinese and North Koreans captured Seoul, South Korea.
  • 1/4/1958 :Sputnik 1 destroyed on reentry.
  • 1/4/1960 :Albert Camus, French writer and philosopher, died.
  • 1/4/1962 :First automatic subway train (New York City).
  • 1/4/1965 :Thomas Stearns Eliot, poet, died.
  • 1/4/1979 :Charlie Mingus, jazz musician, died.
  • 1/4/1986 :Christopher William Isherwood, author (“Sally Bowles”), died.
  • 1/4/1987 :Amtrak/Conrail collision (16 killed).
  • 1/5 :Shinnen Enkai, Third Official New Year Holiday (Japan).
  • 1/5 :Twelfth-night.
  • 1/5/1066 :Saint Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred the Unready, died.
  • 1/5/1796 :Samuel Huntington, President of Continental Congress, died.
  • 1/5/1860 :Saint John Nepomucene Neumann, first male US saint, died.
  • 1/5/1885 :First piggyback railroad operation (Long Island Railway).
  • 1/5/1895 :Auguste Jaccard died.
  • 1/5/1896 :Discovery of X-rays published in an Australian newspaper.
  • 1/5/1914 :Ford Motor Co adjusted wages from $2.34 for 9 hours to $5 for 8
  • :hours.
  • 1/5/1920 :Yankees announced the acquisition of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox.
  • 1/5/1925 :First woman governor sworn in (Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross of
  • :Wyoming).
  • 1/5/1933 :Calvin Coolidge, 30th US president, died.
  • 1/5/1934 :Second Fenway Park fire destroyed nearly all the new construction.
  • 1/5/1940 :FCC heard first demonstration of FM radio.
  • 1/5/1943 :George Washington Carver, US agricultural scientist, died.
  • 1/5/1948 :Mary Scott Lord Dimmick Harrison, second wife of Benjamin
  • :Harrison, died.
  • 1/5/1959 :Bozo the Clown (TV show) debuted.
  • 1/5/1968 :Dr. Spock indicted on draft law violations.
  • 1/5/1971 :The Globetrotters lost to the Washington Generals (100-99).
  • 1/5/1972 :NASA announced the start of the space shuttle program.
  • 1/5/1975 :”The Wiz” opened on Broadway.
  • 1/5/1981 :”Yorkshire Ripper” arrested in England.
  • 1/5/1982 :Arkansas creationism law struck down in US Federal court.
  • 1/5/1987 :First US budget proposal greater than $1 trillion sent to
  • :Congress.
  • 1/5/1988 :Pete Maravich died.
  • 1/5/1994 :Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., former Speaker of the US House,
  • :died.
  • 1/6 :Armenian Christmas.
  • 1/6 :Children’s Day (Uraguay).
  • 1/6 :La Befana (Italy).
  • 1/6 :Maroon Festival (Jamaica).
  • 1/6 :Three Kings’ Day (Puerto Rico).
  • 1/6/1540 :King Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves.
  • 1/6/1759 :George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis.
  • 1/6/1785 :Haym Salomon, American Revolutionary War patriot, died.
  • 1/6/1794 :Edward Gibbon, English historian, died. (1/16?)
  • 1/6/1815 :US Congress levied a $6 million tax to finance the War of 1812.
  • 1/6/1838 :Samuel F.B. Morse and Alfred Vail demonstrated the telegraph.
  • 1/6/1840 :Fanny Burney, novelist (“Evelina”), died.
  • 1/6/1912 :New Mexico became the 47th US state.
  • 1/6/1919 :Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president, died.
  • 1/6/1936 :US Agricultural Adjustment Administration declared
  • :unconstitutional.
  • 1/6/1941 :Lend-Lease bill submitted to US congress.
  • 1/6/1944 :Ida M. Tarbell, historian, died.
  • 1/6/1945 :George Bush married Barbara Pierce.
  • 1/6/1950 :Britain formally recognized the communist government of China.
  • 1/6/1974 :”The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre” premiered.
  • 1/6/1983 :Ronald Reagan raised gasoline taxes $.05.
  • 1/6/1984 :First test tube quadruplets (all boys) born (Melbourne).
  • 1/6/1986 :Nuclear accident at Kerr-McGee plant, Gore, Oklahoma (1 killed).
  • 1/7 :Bullfinch Exchange Festival (USOKAE) (Japan).
  • 1/7 :Christmas (Ethopia).
  • 1/7 :Nanakusa, Seven Grasses Festival (Japan).
  • 1/7 :Pioneer’s Day (Liberia).
  • 1/7/1450 :University of Glasgow founded in Scotland.
  • 1/7/1610 :First three satellites of Jupiter discovered (Galileo).
  • 1/7/1714 :First typewriter patented.
  • 1/7/1784 :First seed supply business established in US (David Landreth,
  • :Philadelphia).
  • 1/7/1785 :First balloon flight across English channel.
  • 1/7/1789 :First nationwide US presidential election held.
  • 1/7/1798 :Britain introduced the world’s first income tax.
  • 1/7/1839 :Daguerrotype photographic process presented to the French Academy
  • :of Science.
  • 1/7/1896 :Fannie Farmer published the first edition of “Boston Cooking
  • :School Cook Book.”
  • 1/7/1914 :First passage through the Panama Canal.
  • 1/7/1927 :The Globetrotters debuted.
  • 1/7/1942 :Siege of Bataan began.
  • 1/7/1944 :Lou Henry Hoover, wife of Herbert Hoover, died.
  • 1/7/1949 :First photograph of genes announced (Los Angeles).
  • 1/7/1955 :First black singer performed at Metropolitan Opera in New York
  • :(Marian Anderson).
  • 1/7/1958 :Bobby Fischer captured the US chess championship (14 years old).
  • 1/7/1963 :US postage raised to $.05 for first class letters.
  • 1/7/1968 :Len Zinberg (a.k.a. Ed Lacy), author (“Room to Swing”), died.
  • 1/7/1968 :Surveyor VII landed on moon.
  • 1/7/1971 :DDT banned in US.
  • 1/7/1971 :Dr. William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson married.
  • 1/7/1972 :John Berryman, poet, killed himself.
  • 1/7/1989 :Hirohito, Japanese Emperor, died.
  • 1/8 :Midwife’s Day or Women’s Day (Greece).
  • 1/8 :National Joygerm Day.
  • 1/8/1713 :Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer and virtuoso violinist, died.
  • 1/8/1798 :11th amendment added to the US Constitution.
  • 1/8/1815 :Battle of New Orleans.
  • 1/8/1867 :Blacks allowed to vote in Washington DC.
  • 1/8/1889 :Herman Hollerith patented first data processing computer.
  • 1/8/1918 :Woodrow Wilson presented his 14 Points speech.
  • 1/8/1941 :Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, died.
  • 1/8/1964 :Lyndon Johnson declared war against poverty.
  • 1/8/1973 :Luna 21, Russian space vehicle, launched.
  • 1/8/1973 :Trial of the “Watergate 7” began.
  • 1/8/1975 :First woman Governor without succeeding husband (Ella Grasso).
  • 1/8/1976 :Chou En-Lai, Chinese Premier, died.
  • 1/8/1982 :AT&T lost antitrust case.
  • 1/8/1982 :Justice Department dropped IBM suit.
  • 1/8/1990 :Terry-Thomas died.
  • 1/8/1994 :Harvey Haddix, threw 12-innings of perfect baseball (and lost),
  • :died.
  • 1/9 :Feast of the Black Nazarene (Philippines).
  • 1/9 :Martyrs’ Day (Panama).
  • 1/9 :Show and Tell Day at Work.
  • 1/9/1324 :Marco Polo, traveller and memoirist, died.
  • 1/9/1788 :Connecticut became the fifth US state.
  • 1/9/1793 :First manned US balloon flight.
  • 1/9/1861 :Mississippi seceded from the Union.
  • 1/9/1945 :US troops invaded the Philippine island of Luzon.
  • 1/9/1968 :Surveyor VII (US) soft landed on the moon.
  • 1/9/1969 :The Concorde jetliner made its first test flight (Bristol,
  • :England).
  • 1/9/1972 :The Queen Elizabeth was gutted by fire while docked in Hong Kong.
  • 1/9/1976 :Phoebe Atwood Taylor, mystery author, died.
  • 1/9/1980 :Apollo Computer created.
  • 1/9/1982 :5.9 earthquake (E. Canada and New England).
  • 1/9/1986 :IRS announced it’d withhold refunds from government loan
  • :defaulters.
  • 1/10/1776:”Common Sense” by Thomas Paine published.
  • 1/10/1778:Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish father of modern systematic botany,
  • :died.
  • 1/10/1794:Johann Georg Adam Forster, natural historian, died.
  • 1/10/1861:Florida seceded from the Union.
  • 1/10/1863:First subway opened (London).
  • 1/10/1870:Standard Oil incorporated.
  • 1/10/1883:Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, gave medical aid to John Wilkes Booth, died.
  • 1/10/1901:First oil gusher (Beaumont, Texas).
  • 1/10/1917:William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, US frontiersman, died.
  • 1/10/1920:League of Nations came into being.
  • 1/10/1925:Second woman US governor sworn in (Miriam “Ma” Ferguson of Texas).
  • 1/10/1928:Exile of Leon Trotsky ordered by Soviet officials.
  • 1/10/1946:First meeting of the UN General Assembly (London).
  • 1/10/1946:First radar signal to Moon (from Belmar, New Jersey).
  • 1/10/1947:Burton Lane’s “Finian’s Rainbow” opened on Broadway.
  • 1/10/1951:(Harry) Sinclair Lewis, novelist (“Main Street”), died.
  • 1/10/1957:Harold Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden as British Prime Minister.
  • 1/10/1960:First CDC 1604 delivered (to US Navy).
  • 1/10/1967:National Educational Television (forerunner of PBS) began
  • :operation.
  • 1/10/1972:Milwaukee ended the Los Angeles Lakers 33 game winning streak.
  • 1/10/1975:Soyuz 17 (USSR) launched.
  • 1/10/1976:Howlin’ Wolf, blues guitarist, died.
  • 1/10/1978:Soyuz 27 (USSR) launched.
  • 1/10/1980:George Meany, labor leader, died.
  • 1/10/1984:US established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
  • 1/11 :Armed Forces Day (Liberia).
  • 1/11 :De Hostos’ Birthday (Puerto Rico).
  • 1/11 :National Unity Day (Nepal).
  • 1/11 :Sherlock Holmes Birthday Breakfast (Algonquin Hotel, New York).
  • 1/11/1753:Hans Sloane, British physician, died.
  • 1/11/1770:Rhubarb first imported into the US (from Mongolia).
  • 1/11/1775:First Jew to hold elective office in the New World (Francis
  • :Salvador, South Carolina).
  • 1/11/1785:The Continental Congress convened (New York City).
  • 1/11/1836:John Molson, patriarch of the Molson brewery family, died.
  • 1/11/1843:Francis Scott Key, composer (“Star-Spangled Banner”), died.
  • 1/11/1853:First ship run by steam.
  • 1/11/1861:Alabama seceded from the Union.
  • 1/11/1864:Charing Cross Station (London) opened.
  • 1/11/1928:Thomas Hardy died.
  • 1/11/1935:First woman flew from Hawaii to California (Amelia Earhart
  • :Putnam).
  • 1/11/1942:Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies.
  • 1/11/1943:Franklin Roosevelt called for $100 billion for the war effort.
  • 1/11/1962:Helen Reilly, former Mystery Writers of America president, died.
  • 1/11/1963:Whiskey-A-Go-Go opened (Los Angeles).
  • 1/11/1964:US Surgeon General named cigarettes a “health hazard.”
  • 1/11/1973:Designated hitter rule adopted by American League.
  • 1/11/1984:US Supreme Court reinstated a $10 million award to the family of
  • :Karen Silkwood.
  • 1/11/1988:Gregory (Pappy) Boyington, WWII flying ace, died.
  • 1/12 :Zanzibar Revolution Day (Tanzania).
  • 1/12/1747:Lottery announced to establish King’s College (later Columbia
  • :University).
  • 1/12/1773:First museum established in America (Charleston).
  • 1/12/1777:Mission Santa Clara de Asis founded.
  • 1/12/1812:First cargo shipped down the Mississippi River.
  • 1/12/1839:Anthracite coal first used to smelt iron (Mauch Chunk,
  • :Pennsylvania).
  • 1/12/1853:First US west coast university established (Willamette).
  • 1/12/1880:Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, wife of Chester Alan Arthur, died.
  • 1/12/1915:US Congress rejected a bill giving women the right to vote.
  • 1/12/1932:Hattie Caraway, first woman elected US Senator (Arkansas).
  • 1/12/1937:Submarine cable plow patented.
  • 1/12/1943:Standard frankfurters replaced by “Victory Sausages.”
  • 1/12/1948:Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi began his final fast.
  • 1/12/1949:”Criss Cross” released.
  • 1/12/1958:Two point conversion added to football by NCAA.
  • 1/12/1966:”Batman” (the TV show) debuted. (1/13?)
  • 1/12/1971:Reverend Philip Berrigan and others indicted on charges of
  • :plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger.
  • 1/12/1976:Agatha Christie, English mystery writer, died.
  • 1/12/1991:US Congress authorized use of force against Iraq.
  • 1/12/1992:HAL-9000 computer became operational (movie).
  • 1/12/1997:HAL-9000 computer will become operational (book).
  • 1/13 :National Liberation Day (Togo).
  • 1/13 :Stephen Foster Memorial Day.
  • 1/13/1733:Georgia, last of the 13 original American colonies, established.
  • 1/13/1794:Congress added stars and stripes for Vermont and Kentucky.
  • 1/13/1864:Stephen Foster, composer (“My Old Kentucky Home”), died.
  • 1/13/1885:Schuyler Colfax, 17th US vice president, died.
  • 1/13/1888:National Geographic Society founded.
  • 1/13/1910:First radio broadcast to the public (New York).
  • 1/13/1928:Ruth Brown Snyder and Henry Judd Gray, murderers, executed.
  • 1/13/1941:James Joyce, Irish novelist, died.
  • 1/13/1942:Operation Drum Roll (German U-boat harassment campaign) began.
  • 1/13/1957:”Flyin’ Saucers” (precursor to Frisbee) debuted.
  • 1/13/1962:Ernie Kovacs, comedian, died.
  • 1/13/1966:”Batman” (the TV show) debuted. (1/12?)
  • 1/13/1972:New York ruled that a woman may become a professional baseball
  • :umpire.
  • 1/13/1978:Hubert Horatio Humphrey, 38th US vice president, died.
  • 1/13/1982:An Air Florida Boeing 737 crashed in Washington D.C. (78 killed).
  • 1/14 :Vinegrower’s Day (Bulgaria).
  • 1/14 :Winfield Cup (Australia).
  • 1/14/1205:”Great Freeze” (lasted until March 22nd) England.
  • 1/14/1742:Edmund Halley, English astronomer and mathematician, died.
  • 1/14/1784:Treaty of Paris ratified.
  • 1/14/1799:Eli Whitney received a US government contract for 10,000 muskets.
  • 1/14/1898:Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll Dodgson), author,
  • :died.
  • 1/14/1914:Henry Ford introduced the “assembly line” (Model-T each 90
  • :minutes).
  • 1/14/1930:George and Ira Gershwin’s “Strike Up the Band” opened on Broadway.
  • 1/14/1938:National Society for the Legalization of Euthanasia formed (New
  • :York City).
  • 1/14/1940:FBI agents seized 18 people in New York City and charged them
  • :with conspiring to overthrow the government.
  • 1/14/1952:”Today” show first aired.
  • 1/14/1954:Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe.
  • 1/14/1957:Humphrey DeForest Bogart, actor (“Maltese Falcon”), died.
  • 1/14/1967:The Human Be-In (San Fransisco).
  • 1/14/1969:Explosions on USS Enterprise (10 killed).
  • 1/14/1969:First docking of two manned spacecraft (Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5).
  • 1/14/1970:Diana Ross made her farewell appearance with The Supremes.
  • 1/14/1985:British pound hit $1.11.
  • 1/15 :Adults Day (Japan).
  • 1/15 :Arbor Day (Jordan).
  • 1/15 :Humanitarian Day (Chicago region).
  • 1/15 :Moliere Day (France).
  • 1/15 :Motorfest (Australia).
  • 1/15 :Texas State Championship Domino Tournament.
  • 1/15/1759:British Museum opened.
  • 1/15/1797:Top Hat first worn (John Etherington, London).
  • 1/15/1831:First US-built passenger locomotive, began (Charleston – Hamburg,
  • :South Carolina).
  • 1/15/1865:Edward Everett, American statesman, died.
  • 1/15/1870:Donkey first used as symbol for Democratic Party (T. Nast,
  • :Harper’s Weekly).
  • 1/15/1876:Eliza McCardle Johnson, wife of Andrew Johnson, died.
  • 1/15/1893:Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble, English actress, died.
  • 1/15/1919:Purity Distilling Co exploded, flooding Boston with molasses (21
  • :killed).
  • 1/15/1943:The Pentagon was completed.
  • 1/15/1947:Elizabeth Short (a.k.a. Black Dahlia) found murdered.
  • 1/15/1950:Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, US Army Air Force General, died.
  • 1/15/1953:Aristotle Onasis gained control of the Monte Carlo casino.
  • 1/15/1967:Super Bowl I (Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10).
  • 1/15/1968:”The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” aired its final episode.
  • 1/15/1973:President Richard Nixon halted military offensives in Vietnam.
  • 1/15/1977:First US prisoner executed in more than a decade (Gary Gilmore).
  • 1/15/1982:Walter Wesley “Red” Smith, sports columnist, died.
  • 1/15/1987:Ray Bolger, actor and dancer, died.
  • 1/15/1993:Sammy Cahn, songwriter, died.
  • 1/16 :Haru-No-Yabuiri (Japan).
  • 1/16 :Martyrs Day (Benin).
  • 1/16 :National Nothing Day (started 1973).
  • 1/16/1599:Edmund Spenser, English poet (“The Faerie Queene”), died.
  • 1/16/1786:Virginia adopted a religious freedom statute.
  • 1/16/1794:Edward Gibbon, English historian (“The Decline and Fall of the
  • :Roman Empire”), died. (1/6?)
  • 1/16/1883:US Civil Service established.
  • 1/16/1894:Aleksandr Fedorovich Middendorf, natural historian, died.
  • 1/16/1906:Marshall Field, Chicago department store founder, died.
  • 1/16/1919:18th Amendment to the US Constitution (prohibition) ratified.
  • 1/16/1920:18th Amendment to the US Constitution (prohibition) became
  • :effective.
  • 1/16/1925:Leon Trotsky dismissed as chairman of the Russian Revolutionary
  • :Military Council.
  • 1/16/1936:Albert “the Cannibal” Fish, child murderer, executed (Sing Sing).
  • 1/16/1939:”I Love a Mystery”, radio show, debuted.
  • 1/16/1942:Carole Lombard, actress, died.
  • 1/16/1944:”I Wake Up Screaming” released.
  • 1/16/1957:First nonstop round-the-world flight.
  • 1/16/1958:Caroll John Daly, mystery writer, died.
  • 1/16/1962:First day of filming “Dr. No.”
  • 1/16/1964:”Hello, Dolly!” opened on Broadway.
  • 1/16/1973:Last “Bonanza” episode.
  • 1/16/1973:Luna 21 (USSR) landed on the moon.
  • 1/16/1973:Simba, history’s largest lion, died.
  • 1/16/1979:Set uid bit patent issued.
  • 1/16/1980:Gold at $760/ounce (London).
  • 1/16/1984:Development of SDI (a.k.a. “Star Wars”) authorized.
  • 1/16/1991:US and allies airstrike against Iraq.
  • 1/17 :Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral (Mexico).
  • 1/17 :Constitution Day (Philippines).
  • 1/17 :Liberation Day (Poland).
  • 1/17/1781:Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina.
  • 1/17/1893:Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii deposed.
  • 1/17/1893:Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 19th US president, died.
  • 1/17/1910:Thomas Crapper, said to have developed toilet mechanism, died.
  • 1/17/1917:US Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark ($25 million). (3/31?)
  • 1/17/1926:George Burns married Gracie Allen.
  • 1/17/1927:Juliette Gordon Low, Girl Scouts founder, died.
  • 1/17/1933:Louis Comfort Tiffany, stained-glass artist, died.
  • 1/17/1935:Philippine constitution ratified.
  • 1/17/1945:Poland liberated from Nazi oppression by Soviet troops.
  • 1/17/1946:UN Security Council first met.
  • 1/17/1950:$1.5 million stolen from a Brink’s armored car (by 9 men in
  • :Boston).
  • 1/17/1955:First nuclear submarine (Nautilus) launched (11:00 am). (1954?)
  • 1/17/1961:Eisenhower’s Farewell Address.
  • 1/17/1966:Hydrogen bomb accident (Palomares, Spain).
  • 1/17/1969:Justice Department began IBM suit.
  • 1/17/1969:Led Zeppelin’s first albumn released.
  • 1/17/1974:Pink Floyd started recording “Dark Side of the Moon.”
  • 1/17/1981:Bernard Lee, actor, died.
  • 1/17/1985:Toyota made its 50 millionth car.
  • 1/17/1987:253.1 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
  • 1/18 :Revolution Day (Tunisia).
  • 1/18/1535:Pizarro found Lima, Peru.
  • 1/18/1778:James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands (named them Sandwich
  • :Islands).
  • 1/18/1788:First shipload of convicts landed at Australia’s Botany Bay.
  • 1/18/1854:William Walker proclaimed himself president of Sonora (Sonora,
  • :Mexico and Baja, California).
  • 1/18/1862:John Tyler, 10th US president, died.
  • 1/18/1871:William of Prussia declared first German Emperor.
  • 1/18/1911:First landing of an airplane on a ship.
  • 1/18/1912:Robert F. Scott reached the South Pole.
  • 1/18/1919:Versailles Peace Conference opened.
  • 1/18/1936:Rudyard Kipling, English writer, died.
  • 1/18/1943:Commercial bakeries ordered to cease selling sliced bread.
  • 1/18/1943:Siege of Leningrad ended.
  • 1/18/1944:First Chinese granted naturalized citizenship (E.B. Kan).
  • 1/18/1966:Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister of India.
  • 1/18/1991:Eastern Airlines went out of business.
  • 1/19 :Archbishop Makarios Name Day (Cyprus).
  • 1/19 :Confederate Heroes Day (Texas).
  • 1/19 :Ethiopian Epiphany (Ethiopia).
  • 1/19 :Nameday of Archbishop Makarios (Cyprus).
  • 1/19 :Robert Edward Lee’s Birthday (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi,
  • :South Carolina, and Tennessee).
  • 1/19/1840:Antarctica first sighted (Charles Wilkes).
  • 1/19/1853:Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” premiered in Rome.
  • 1/19/1861:Georgia seceded from the Union.
  • 1/19/1903:First transatlantic radio broadcast (Cape Cod).
  • 1/19/1915:First neon-tube sign patented.
  • 1/19/1938:Spanish Nationalist Air Force bombed Barcelona and Valencia (700
  • :killed).
  • 1/19/1946:International Tribunal for Far East war criminals appointed.
  • 1/19/1965:”Cheating” scandal rocked the US Air Force Academy (105 cadets
  • :resigned).
  • 1/19/1975:China published a new state constitution.
  • 1/19/1975:Thomas Hart Benton, US painter, died.
  • 1/19/1977:Iva Toguri D’Aquino (“Tokyo Rose”) pardoned.
  • 1/19/1978:Last German Volkswagen Beetle produced.
  • 1/19/1979:John Mitchell freed from jail.
  • 1/19/1980:William Orville Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice, died.
  • 1/19/1988:Beatles joined Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • 1/20 :Army Day (Lesotho and Mali).
  • 1/20 :Inauguration Day.
  • 1/20 :”Mobius” Awards (TV and Radio Commercials).
  • 1/20 :National Heroes Day (Guinea-Bissau).
  • 1/20 :Saint Agnes Eve.
  • 1/20 :Thaipusam (Singapore).
  • 1/20/1265:Britain’s House of Commons met for the first time.
  • 1/20/1779:David Garrick, British actor, died.
  • 1/20/1783:Preliminary cessation of hostilities signed (US Revolutionary
  • :War).
  • 1/20/1801:John Marshall appointed Chief Justice.
  • 1/20/1841:China ceded Hong Kong to Great Britain.
  • 1/20/1887:Pearl Harbor leased from Hawaii to use as a naval port.
  • 1/20/1892:First officially recognized basketball game played (Springfield,
  • :Massachusetts).
  • 1/20/1900:John Ruskin, critic (“Modern Painters”), died.
  • 1/20/1900:R.D. Blackmore, English novelist (“Lorna Doone”), died.
  • 1/20/1920:ACLU founded.
  • 1/20/1936:George V of England died.
  • 1/20/1936:Edward VIII became English Sovereign.
  • 1/20/1962:Robinson Jeffers, US poet and playwright, died.
  • 1/20/1980:US President Carter announced that the US will not participate in
  • :the Moscow Summer Olympics.
  • 1/20/1981:Iran released US hostages after 444 days.
  • 1/20/1986:Martin Luther King Day first observed as a federal holiday.
  • 1/21 :National Hugging Day.
  • 1/21 :Our Lady of Altagracia (Dominican Republic).
  • 1/21/1609:Joseph Justus Scaliger, French inventor of “Julian Period”, died.
  • 1/21/1789:First US novel published (“The Power of Sympathy; or, The Triumph
  • :of Nature”).
  • 1/21/1793:Louis XVI, French King, executed (Paris).
  • 1/21/1861:Jefferson Davis, Mississippi Senator, resigned.
  • 1/21/1892:US ultimatum to Chile.
  • 1/21/1908:New York City banned women from smoking in public or private
  • :places.
  • 1/21/1915:First Kiwanis Club chartered (Detroit).
  • 1/21/1924:Nikolai Lenin (Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov), leader of Russia’s 1917
  • :Communist revolution, died.
  • 1/21/1928:George Washington Goethals, US engineer and Army officer, died.
  • 1/21/1944:”Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman” released.
  • 1/21/1946:”The Fat Man” premiered on ABC.
  • 1/21/1954:First gas-turbine automobile publicly introduced (New York City).
  • 1/21/1956:Muppets created.
  • 1/21/1959:Cecil Blount de Mille, movie producer, died.
  • 1/21/1977:Vietnam War-era draft evaders pardoned.
  • 1/21/1990:Barbara Stanwyck (Ruby Stevens), actress, died.
  • 1/21/1990:First player ejected from the Australian Open (John McEnroe).
  • 1/22 :Answer Your Cat’s Question Day.
  • 1/22 :National School Nurse Day.
  • 1/22/1531:Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter, died.
  • 1/22/1673:Postal route between Boston and New York City began.
  • 1/22/1771:Falkland Islands ceded to Britain (by Spain).
  • 1/22/1798:Lewis Morris, signer of US Declaration of Independence, died.
  • 1/22/1832:Mary Hays McCauley (nee Ludwig) (a.k.a. Molly Pitcher), US
  • :Revolutionary War heroine, died.
  • 1/22/1863:Army of the Potomac stopped by thirty hours of steady rain.
  • 1/22/1876:Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected Lavinia Goddell because she was
  • :a woman.
  • 1/22/1901:Queen Victoria died.
  • 1/22/1901:King Edward VII became English Sovereign.
  • 1/22/1905:”Red Sunday” – demonstrating Russian workers fired on by Imperial
  • :troops.
  • 1/22/1922:Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo dela Chiesa), 258th pope, died.
  • 1/22/1932:Hoover’s RFC.
  • 1/22/1938:”Our Town” first performed publicly (Princeton, New Jersey).
  • 1/22/1944:US troops established a beachhead at Anzio, Italy.
  • 1/22/1972:David Bowie announced he was gay.
  • 1/22/1973:Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th US president, died.
  • 1/22/1973:Roe v. Wade decision handed down.
  • 1/22/1981:Jimmy Carter visited the freed US hostages in West Germany.
  • 1/22/1987:Human-powered flight record broken (37.2 miles, Glen Tremml).
  • 1/22/1987:R. Budd Dwyer, Pennsylvania State Treasurer, shot himself.
  • 1/22/1994:Telly Savalas, actor, died.
  • 1/23 :Babin Den (Bulgaria).
  • 1/23 :Feast of Saint Ildefonsus.
  • 1/23 :National Handwriting Day.
  • 1/23 :National Pie Day.
  • 1/23 :One-Tooth Rhee Landing Day.
  • 1/23/1789:First US Catholic college established (Georgetown).
  • 1/23/1800:Edward Rutledge, signer of the US Declaration of Independence,
  • :died.
  • 1/23/1806:William Pitt, British statesman, died.
  • 1/23/1845:US national election ruled to be on first Tuesday following first
  • :Monday in November.
  • 1/23/1849:First US female physician earned MD (Elizabeth Blackwell).
  • 1/23/1891:First interracial hospital (Provident Hospital, Chicago).
  • 1/23/1893:Phillips Brooks, US clergyman and composer, died.
  • 1/23/1909:First radio rescue at sea.
  • 1/23/1920:Dutch government refused to hand over the ex-kaiser of Germany.
  • 1/23/1931:Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina, died.
  • 1/23/1941:Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s “Lady in the Dark” opened on
  • :Broadway.
  • 1/23/1943:Alexander Woollcott, drama critic, died during a radio broadcast.
  • 1/23/1947:”Lady in the Lake” (movie version) released.
  • 1/23/1950:Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell), British author (“1984”), died.
  • 1/23/1962:Kim Philby, Soviet spy, defected.
  • 1/23/1964:”After the Fall” opened.
  • 1/23/1964:24th Amendment to US Constitution (eliminating poll tax) ratified.
  • 1/23/1968:USS Pueblo seized by North Korean forces.
  • 1/23/1973:Richard Nixon announced fighting in Vietnam would end midnight January 27th.
  • 1/23/1975:”Barney Miller” premiered on ABC.
  • 1/23/1976:Paul Robeson died.
  • 1/23/1977:”Roots” began its TV broadcast.
  • 1/23/1981:Samuel Barber died.
  • 1/23/1983:Bjorn Borg retired from tennis competition.
  • 1/23/1985:James Beard, food expert, died.
  • 1/23/1988:Salvador Dali, surrealist artist, died.
  • 1/23/1992:Dr, Brendan Leahey, performed the first successful corneal transplant, died.
  • 1/24 :Economic Liberation Day (Togo).
  • 1/24/1813:George Clymer, signer of US Declaration of Independence, died.
  • 1/24/1848:Gold discovered in California at (Sutter’s Mill by J.W. Marshal).
  • 1/24/1895:Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill, British statesman and father of Sir Winston, died.
  • 1/24/1899:Rubber heel patented.
  • 1/24/1908:First Boy Scout troop organized (Sir Baden-Powell, England).
  • 1/24/1916:US Supreme Court ruled that an income tax was unconstitutional.
  • 1/24/1922:First ice cream bar (Eskimo Pie) patented.
  • 1/24/1935:Beer first sold in cans (Richmond, Virginia).
  • 1/24/1940:Jane Wyman married Ronald Wilson Reagan.
  • 1/24/1955:Ira Hamilton, one of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, died.
  • 1/24/1965:Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, British statesman died.
  • 1/24/1969:Data General’s Nova introduced.
  • 1/24/1978:Radioactive debris from Cosmos 954 (Soviet) reached ground.
  • 1/24/1984:Apple Computer unveiled the Macintosh computer.
  • 1/24/1986:Lafayette Ron Hubbard, SF writer and founder of Scientology, died.
  • 1/24/1986:Voyager 2 (US) revealed 10 previously unknown Uranus moons.
  • 1/24/1989:Theodore Bundy, serial killer, executed (Florida).
  • 1/24/1993:Thurgood Marshall, former US Supreme Court Justice, died.
  • 1/25/1327:Edward III became the English Sovereign.
  • 1/25/1533:King Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn.
  • 1/25/1640:Robert Burton, writer (“The Anatomy of Melancholy”), died.
  • 1/25/1787:Shay’s Rebellion (Springfield, Massachusetts).
  • 1/25/1858:Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” first played.
  • 1/25/1870:Ornamented soda fountain patented (G.D. Dows).
  • 1/25/1890:Nellie Bly completed around the world trip (72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes).
  • 1/25/1890:United Mine Workers of America founded.
  • 1/25/1915:Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (New York to San Francisco).
  • 1/25/1945:Fluoride first added to public drinking water (Grand Rapids, Michigan).
  • 1/25/1949:First Emmy Awards.
  • 1/25/1950:Alger Hiss convicted of perjury.
  • 1/25/1958:First US meeting of ALGOL definition committee.
  • 1/25/1961:First US presidential news conference on TV.
  • 1/25/1971:Charles Manson found guilty of the murder of actress Sharon Tate.
  • 1/25/1973:”Life” published its final weekly issue.
  • 1/25/1981:Americans held hostage in Iran (444 days) returned to the US.
  • 1/26 :Australia Day (Australia).
  • 1/26 :National Holiday (Dominican Republic).
  • 1/26 :Republic Day (India).
  • 1/26/1531:Earthquake in Lisbon (30,000 killed).
  • 1/26/1778:Sydney, Australia (then Port Jackson) settled.
  • 1/26/1837:Michigan became 26th US state.
  • 1/26/1838:First US state temperance law passed (Tennessee).
  • 1/26/1841:Hong Kong proclaimed a sovereign territory of Britain.
  • 1/26/1886:David R. Atchison, president of US for 1 day (3/4/1849), died.
  • 1/26/1893:Abner Doubleday, baseball pioneer, died.
  • 1/26/1918:”Wheatless” and “Meatless” days called for.
  • 1/26/1926:Television first demonstrated (J.L. Baird, London).
  • 1/26/1929:Indian National Congress resolved to work for establishment of a sovereign republic.
  • 1/26/1950:First babysitter’s insurance policy issued (Saint Louis).
  • 1/26/1950:India became the Republic of India.
  • 1/26/1952:EDVAC demonstrated.
  • 1/26/1955:Serge Rubinstein, international con man, found strangled.
  • 1/26/1973:Edward G. Robinson, actor, died.
  • 1/26/1979:Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, former US vice president, died.
  • 1/26/1984:”Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” returned to TV.
  • 1/26/1986:Super Bowl XX (New England 10, Chicago 46).
  • 1/27/1302:Dante Alighiere expelled from Florence.
  • 1/27/1606:Gunpowder Plot Trial.
  • 1/27/1785:First US state University chartered (University of Georgia).
  • 1/27/1851:John James Audubon, naturalist, died.
  • 1/27/1863:A.D. Boileau, newspaper editor, arrested for opposing the US Civil War.
  • 1/27/1870:Kappa Alpha Theta, first sorority, founded (DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana).
  • 1/27/1880:Electric incandescent lamp patented (Thomas Edison).
  • 1/27/1891:George Bancroft, US historian, died.
  • 1/27/1901:Giuseppi Verdi, Italian opera composer, died.
  • 1/27/1915:US Marines occupied Haiti.
  • 1/27/1922:Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (a.k.a. Nelly Bly), journalist, died.
  • 1/27/1951:First atomic bomb test in Nevada.
  • 1/27/1964:First woman sought nomination of major US political party’s support for president (Margaret Chase Smith, from Maine).
  • 1/27/1967:Fire aboard Apollo 1 (US) (6:31 pm) killed crew.
  • 1/27/1973:Ceasefire ended Vietnam War.
  • 1/27/1979:First US vice president to be cremated (N.A. Rockefeller).
  • 1/27/1986:Lilli Palmer (Lillie Marie Peiser), actress, died.
  • 1/27/1994:Claude Akins, actor, died.
  • 1/27/1994:Sherm Feller, Boston Red Sox public address announcer, died.
  • 1/28 :Feast of Democracy (Rwanda).
  • 1/28 :National Kazoo Day.
  • 1/28/1547:King Edward VI became the English Sovereign.
  • 1/28/1782:Congress resolved that there should be a Great Seal of the US.
  • 1/28/1807:First street to be lighted by gas lamps (Pall Mall, London).
  • 1/28/1871:France surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • 1/28/1878:First commercial telephone switchboard opened (New Haven, CT – 21 people).
  • 1/28/1890:Prudence Crandall, teacher, died.
  • 1/28/1909:Republican government took over Cuba.
  • 1/28/1914:First rope ski tow (Woodstock, Vermont).
  • 1/28/1915:US Coast Guard established.
  • 1/28/1916:First Jew nominated to the US Supreme Court (Louis D. Brandeis).
  • 1/28/1939:William Butler Yeats, Irish poet-dramatist, died.
  • 1/28/1961:Dora Amy Elles Dillon Turnbull (a.k.a. Patricia Wentworth), writer (“The Gazebo”), died.
  • 1/28/1963:Jean Felix Piccard, Swiss balloonist and cosmic-ray researcher, died.
  • 1/28/1969:Santa Barbara oil spill.
  • 1/28/1982:General James Dozier was rescued after being held for 42 days.
  • 1/28/1986:Space Shuttle Challenger exploded (11:39 am EST) (7 killed).
  • 1/28/1991:Red Grange, “The Galloping Ghost,” died.
  • 1/28/1994:Hal Smith, actor (Otis on “The Andy Grriffith Show”).
  • 1/29 :Martyrs Day (Nepal).
  • 1/29/1621:Rose Standish, wife of Myles Standish, died.
  • 1/29/1820:King George III, king during American revolution, died.
  • 1/29/1820:King George IV became English Sovereign.
  • 1/29/1834:First use of US federal troops in a labor dispute (Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad).
  • 1/29/1837:Alexander Pushkin, Russian author, died.
  • 1/29/1845:”The Raven,” by Edgar Allan Poe, published.
  • 1/29/1861:Kansas became the 34th US state.
  • 1/29/1886:Patent issued for “motorwagen” (Carl Benz).
  • 1/29/1888:Edward Lear, English artist and author, died.
  • 1/29/1899:Alfred Sisley, French impressionist painter, died.
  • 1/29/1900:The American Baseball League formed (Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis).
  • 1/29/1910:”Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (the play) opened.
  • 1/29/1921:Hurricane in Washington and Oregon.
  • 1/29/1929:”The Seeing Eye” guide dog foundation organized.
  • 1/29/1936:First men elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Honus Wagner).
  • 1/29/1944:William Allen White, US journalist, died.
  • 1/29/1956:Henry Louis Mencken, US critic, died.
  • 1/29/1963:First members of the football Hall of Fame selected.
  • 1/29/1963:Robert Lee Frost, poet, died.
  • 1/29/1964:Saturn SA-5 (US) launched.
  • 1/29/1974:UCLA won 88th straight basketball game.
  • 1/29/1979:Brenda Spencer, San Diego student, shot 11 (2 died) because “don’t like Mondays.”
  • 1/29/1979:Patricia Hearst’s seven year prison sentence commuted to two years.
  • 1/29/1980:James Francis “Jimmy” Durante, entertainer, died.
  • 1/30/1649:Charles I of England beheaded.
  • 1/30/1798:First brawl in the US House of Representatives.
  • 1/30/1835:First US presidential assassination attempt (Andrew Jackson).
  • 1/30/1836:Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross (Griscom), maker of first US flag, died.
  • 1/30/1933:Hitler became chancellor of Germany.
  • 1/30/1948:Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi assassinated.
  • 1/30/1948:Orville Wright, aviation pioneer, died.
  • 1/30/1958:First two-way moving sidewalk in service (Dallas).
  • 1/30/1968:Tet Offensive launched.
  • 1/30/1969:Beatles’ last public performance (London).
  • 1/30/1972:”Bloody Sunday” (13 Catolics shot by British troops – Ireland).
  • 1/30/1982:Lightnin’ Hopkins, most recorded blues artist, died.
  • 1/31 :National Holiday (Nauru).
  • 1/31/1855:Western US railroads blocked by snow.
  • 1/31/1865:13th Amendment to US Constitution (abolishing slavery) proposed by Congress.
  • 1/31/1901:”The Three Sisters” by Anton Chekhov premiered in Moscow.
  • 1/31/1917:Germany announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
  • 1/31/1928:Scotch tape first sold.
  • 1/31/1929:Russia expelled Leon Trotsky.
  • 1/31/1934:Franklin Roosevelt devalued the US dollar in relation to gold.
  • 1/31/1935:J.S. Fletcher, author (“Middle Temple Murder”), died.
  • 1/31/1939:Hewlett-Packard founded (1/1?).
  • 1/31/1945:Eddie D. Slovik executed for desertion (only since Civil War).
  • 1/31/1948:Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi cremated on the banks of the Ganges.
  • 1/31/1949:First TV daytime soap opera broadcast (“These Are My Children”).
  • 1/31/1950:Harry Truman announced he had ordered hydrogen bomb development.
  • 1/31/1956:Alan Alexander Milne, British author (“Winnie the Pooh”), died.
  • 1/31/1958:Explorer 1 (US) (first US artificial satellite) launched.
  • 1/31/1962:OAS voted to exclude Cuba.
  • 1/31/1966:Luna 9 (USSR) launched.
  • 1/31/1971:Apollo 14 (US) launched.
  • 1/31/1974:Samuel Goldwyn (Samuel Goldfish), movie producer, died.
  • 1/31/1987:Long Island Railway resumed service after a two week strike.
  • 1/31/1990:Soviet Union’s first McDonald’s opened.