This day in history.....

January 20th
1920: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is formed.


1937: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes the first United States president to be sworn into office on January 20, as required by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.


1961: President John F. Kennedy gives his memorable inaugural address that includes the words, "Ask not what your country can do for you.…"


1964: The album "Meet the Beatles" is released in the United States.


1981: American hostages are released from Iran after being held for 444 days.
 
January 21st


1793: Louis XVI is executed by guillotine for treason.


1915: The Kiwanis International worldwide service club is chartered in Detroit, Michigan.


1924: Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin dies at age 54.


1954: The first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, is launched by the United States at Groton, Connecticut. It is also the largest submarine, at 97 m (319 ft) long.


1966: Beatle George Harrison and Patricia Ann Boyd marry after meeting on the set of A Hard Day's Night.


1976: The first Concordes simultaneously take flight from London and Paris, with commercial passengers onboard.
 
January22nd

1666: Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor of India (1628-1658) who built the Taj Mahal, dies in Agra, India, at age 74.



1968: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In premieres on NBC.


1973: In Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court rules that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy.


1973: President Lyndon Baines Johnson dies at age 64.
 
1964 : U.S. Joint Chiefs foresee larger U.S. commitment

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff inform Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that they "are wholly in favor of executing the covert actions against North Vietnam."
President Johnson had recently approved Oplan 34A, provocative operations to be conducted by South Vietnamese forces (supported by the United States) to gather intelligence and conduct sabotage to destabilize the North Vietnamese regime. Actual operations would begin in February and involve raids by South Vietnamese commandos operating under American orders against North Vietnamese coastal and island installations. Although American forces were not directly involved in the actual raids, U.S. Navy ships were on station to conduct electronic surveillance and monitor North Vietnamese defense responses under another program called Operation De Soto.
Although the Joint Chiefs agreed with the president's decision on these operations, they further advocated even stronger measures, advising McNamara: "... We believe, however, that it would be idle to conclude that these efforts will have a decisive effect on the communist determination to support the insurgency, and it is our view that we must therefore be prepared fully to undertake a much higher level of activity." Among their recommendations were "aerial bombing of key North Vietnamese targets," and "commit[ment of] additional U.S. forces, as necessary, in support of the combat actions within South Vietnam."
President Johnson at first resisted this advice, but in less than a year, U.S. airplanes were bombing North Vietnam, and shortly thereafter the first U.S. combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam.
 
January23rd


1848: The California Gold Rush kicks off when James Marshall, a construction worker, discovers a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill, California.


1935: The first canned beer is sold by the Krueger Brewing Company in Richmond, Virginia.


1965: Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain from 1940–1945 and 1951–1955, dies in London, England, at age 90.


1985: In Portland, Oregon, Penny Harrington becomes the first female police chief of a major American city.


1993: Thurgood Marshall, first African American member of the United States Supreme Court, dies in Bethesda, Maryland, at the age of 84.
 
January 26th


1861: Louisiana secedes from the Union.


1905: The world's largest diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa.


1950: India formally becomes a republic, three years after gaining independence from Great Britain.


1956: Buddy Holly has his first recording session at Decca Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
January 27th


1880: The electric light bulb is patented by Thomas Edison.


1888: The National Geographic Society is established for the purpose of increasing and diffusing geographical knowledge.


1945: The Soviet army marches into the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz, liberating about 7600 prisoners abandoned there.


1967: Astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee are killed in the cockpit of the Apollo I spacecraft. The cause was a flash fire that broke out during a flight simulation test.


1973: The United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong sign a cease-fire agreement in France.


1984: Michael Jackson's head catches on fire while filming an ad for Pepsi.
 
January 28th


1866: Scottish explorer David Livingstone embarks on his final expedition in Africa to establish the true source of the Nile. All outside contact with him is lost after he reaches Lake Tanganyika.


1908: Julia Ward Howe, author and reformer, is the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, in part for writing the famous poem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."


1916: Louis D. Brandeis is nominated to the United States Supreme Court, becoming the first Jew to attain this position.


1968: Aretha Franklin tops the charts with her hit "Chain of Fools." She goes on to earn a string of awards including lifetime achievement awards from the Grammys and from the Kennedy Center of the Arts.


1986: The space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
 
January 29th


1802: John Beckley becomes the first Librarian of Congress, appointed by President Thomas Jefferson. He reportedly was paid two dollars per day.


1891: Liliuokalani became Queen of Hawaii following the death of her brother King Kalakaua. She was the last monarch in Hawaiian history.


1936: Baseball greats Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson are the first players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The hall opens its doors to the public in 1939.


1958: Actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward marry.


1990: Exxon Valdez oil tanker captain Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial for his involvement in the worst oil spill in the history of the United States.


1995: The San Francisco 49ers make NFL history by winning their fifth Super Bowl.
 
January 31st


1606: Guy Fawkes is executed by hanging, having been found guilty of treason for conspiring in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament.


1865: Congress approves the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery.


1958: The United States Army launches Explorer 1 into Earth's orbit. The first U.S. satellite, it is used to study cosmic rays.


1962: Willie Mays, known as the "Say Hey Kid," signs a contract reportedly worth $90,000, a record to date.


1990: McDonald's opens its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia, serving more than 30,000 customers in one day.
 
1865 - Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces.
1940 The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for 22.54.
 
February 5th


1631: Roger Williams, immigrating from England to the New World, lands in Boston.


1917: The Immigration Act is passed requiring a literacy test for all immigrants.


1960: Marty Robbins's song "El Paso" tops both the popular and country charts and later wins the first Grammy for Best Country and Western Performance.

1971: Alan Shepard is the first person to golf on the moon and the fifth man to walk on the moon, spending a record 33.5 hours on the moon's surface.


1988: Manuel Antonio Noriega, former dictator of Panama, is indicted by a United States grand jury in Florida on drug and racketeering charges.


1994: Medgar Evers's murderer, Byron de La Beckworth, a white separatist, is finally convicted to life in prison for the 1963 shooting.
 
February 6th


1820: Largely through the work of the American Colonization Society, the first organized immigration of freed American slaves departs from New York for Sierra Leone.

1865: Robert E. Lee is made commander in chief of all Confederate armies, and two months later surrenders to Ulysses S Grant.


1899: The Spanish-American War peace treaty is ratified by a margin of just one vote after an intense fight in the United States Senate.


1926: The Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, reach Hankou at the confluence of the Han and the Yangtze rivers; Hankou becomes the Kuomintang capital.


1933: Sponsored by Senator George Norris, the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution, known as the Lame Duck amendment, goes into effect.


1952: Elizabeth II succeeds the throne of Britain following the death of her father King George VI.
 
February 7th


1884: The last sanctioned bare-knuckle fight is fought in Mississippi City, Mississippi. John L. Sullivan retains his heavyweight crown by defeating Jake Kilrain.


1904: A blaze sweeps through the business district of Baltimore, Maryland, destroying 80 city blocks before it is extinguished. The Great Baltimore Fire burned for 30 hours.


1964: The British rock group the Beatles arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to begin their first United States tour.


1974: Grenada becomes independent of the British Commonwealth.


1984: Bruce McCandless tests the jet-propelled manned maneuvering unit outside space shuttle Challenger, performing the first non-tethered space walk in NASA history.

1986: Jean-Claude Duvalier leaves the presidency of Haiti and flees to France.
 
February 8th


1904: The Russo-Japanese War begins after the Japanese navy launches a surprise attack on Port Arthur, China, damaging and blockading the Russian fleet.


1915: The silent motion picture The Birth of a Nation (also known as The Clansman), directed by D. W. Griffith, opens to mixed but popular reaction in Los Angeles.

1925: Black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey enters federal prison today in Atlanta, Georgia, for his conviction of mail fraud.


1958: Bobby Fischer, two months shy of his 15th birthday, becomes the youngest international grand master in the history of chess.


1959: Charles de Gaulle, the first elected president of the newly formed Fifth Republic of France, takes office.


1960: Boston Celtic center Bill Russell pulls down 51 rebounds to set a new NBA record, later eclipsed by Wilt Chamberlain's record of 55.
 
February 9th
1567: A conspiracy to kill Lord Stuart Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is successfully carried out on this night.

1900: The Davis Cup is first won by its donator Dwight F. Davis and his doubles partner in Brookline, Massachusetts.


1950: Senator Joseph McCarthy claims the State Department has been infiltrated by Communists. He is later censured for his tactics.


1953: Ralph Ellison's best-known work, Invisible Man (1952) receives the National Book Award.


1964: Ed Sullivan presents the Beatles on his weekly variety show, helping to advance the careers of the "Fab Four" in the United States.


1971: Satchel Paige is inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is well known for his colorful observations of life ("Never run when you can walk") as well as for his pitching speed and variety.
 
February 10th

1763: The Treaty of Paris between Britain, France, and Spain ends the Seven Years' War.


1846: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members embark from Illinois on their exodus to the west.


1863: The fire extinguisher is patented by its creator Alonson Crane.


1989: The World Wrestling Foundation admits in court that professional wrestling is an exhibition and not a sport.


1990: South African President F. W. De Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela will be released from prison the following day.


1998: Championship figure skater Peggy Fleming successfully undergoes breast-cancer surgery.
 
February 11th
1790: The Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers, sends the United States Congress a petition calling for the emancipation of slaves.


1929: The Lateran Treaty creates the state of the Vatican City and guaranteed to the Holy See full and independent sovereignty.


1984: Challenger 4 is the first space shuttle to land on the runway at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


1990: Nelson Mandela is freed from prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for sabotage, treason, and violent conspiracy.


1993: Janet Reno is appointed United States attorney general by President Bill Clinton, making her the first woman U.S. attorney general.
 
February 12th

1541: The Spanish explorer and soldier Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile, the capital of modern Chile.

1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.


1964: The Beatles play two 35-minute shows at Carnegie Hall. Best seats in the house sold for $5.50.

1968: Guitar hero Jimi Hendrix returns home to Seattle, Washington, and is awarded with the key to the city and an honorary high school diploma.


2000: The creator of "Peanuts" cartoon strip Charles "Sparky" Shultz dies at age 77 in his home town of Santa Rosa, California.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top