January
Jan. 1 - 1776 During the American Revolution, George Washington unveiled the Grand Union Flag, the first national flag in America.
- 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the states rebelling against the Union. Jan. 2nd - 1942 During World War II in the Pacific, the Japanese captured the Philippines capital of Manila and the nearby air base at Cavite. - 1960 In Washington, D.C., Senator John F. Kennedy announced his intention to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Jan. 3rd - 1946 An Englishman known during World War II as "Lord Haw Haw" (William Joyce) was hanged for treason in London. Joyce had broadcast Nazi propaganda via radio from Germany to Britain during the war. - 1959 Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state with a landmass almost one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states together. Jan. 4th - 1809 Louis Braille (1809-1852) was born in France. Blinded as a boy, he later invented a reading system for the blind using punch marks in paper. - 1774 Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) was born in New York. She became the first American Catholic Saint in 1975 Jan 5th - 1972 President Richard Nixon signed a bill approving $5.5 billion over six years to build and test the NASA space shuttle. - 1925 Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first female governor inaugurated in the U.S. Jan. 6th - 1990 Poland's Communist Party disbanded and then reorganized as the Social Democratic Party, an opposition party to Solidarity. - 1066 Harold, Earl of Wessex, was crowned King of England following the death of his brother-in-law Edward the Confessor. Harold II was England's last Anglo-Saxon king. In October of 1066, Harold met the invading army of William the Conqueror at Hastings and died on the field of battle. Jan. 7th - 1714 A patent was issued for the first typewriter designed by British inventor Henry Mill "for the impressing or transcribing of letters singly or progressively one after another, as in writing." - 1782 The first U.S. commercial bank opened as the Bank of North America in Philadelphia. Jan. 8th - 1935 Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was born in Tupelo, Mississippi - 1964 President Lyndon Johnson declared War on Poverty during his State of the Union message before Congress. Jan. 9th - 1859 Carrie Lane Chapman (1859-1947) was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. She was the women's rights pioneer who founded the National League of Women Voters in 1919. - 1960 With the first blast of dynamite, construction work began on the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in southern Egypt. One third of the project's billion-dollar cost was underwritten by Soviet Russia. The dam created Lake Nasser, one of the world's largest reservoirs, at nearly 2,000 square miles and irrigated over 100,000 acres of surrounding desert. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and President Nikolai Podgorny of the Soviet Union opened the dam in January of 1971. Jan. 10th - 1912 The flying boat airplane, invented by Glenn Curtiss, made its first flight at Hammondsport, New York. - 1776 Common Sense, a fifty-page pamphlet by Thomas Paine, was published. It sold over 500,000 copies in America and Europe, influencing, among others, the authors of the Declaration of Independence. Jan. 11 - 1964 The U.S. Surgeon General declared cigarettes may be hazardous to health, the first such official government report. Jan. 12 - 1755 Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) was born in the British West Indies. He was a founder of the United States who favored a strong central government and co-authored the Federalist Papers, a series of essays in defense of the new Constitution. He was selected by George Washington to be the first Secretary of the Treasury. He died from a gunshot wound received during a duel with Aaron Burr. - 1737 American statesman and patriot John Hancock (1737-1793) was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. He was elected president of the Second Continental Congress in 1775, was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and went on to become the first elected governor of Massachusetts. Jan. 13th – 1942 Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car. – 1990 Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia Jan. 14th – 1952 NBC's long-running morning news program Today debuts, with host Dave Garroway. - 1741 Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was born in Norwich, Connecticut. He was the American Revolutionary War hero who turned traitor, sending information to the British in exchange for money. After obtaining command of West Point in 1780, he conspired to turn over the garrison to the British. However, his plans were discovered and he fled to British headquarters in New York. After the war, he lived in England. Jan. 15th – 1559 Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London, England. – 1493 Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World. Jan. 16 – 1581 The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism. – 1919 Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification. Jan. 17th – 1899 Al Capone, American gangster was born – 1954 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, and activist was born Jan. 18th - 1782 American orator and politician Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire. "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" he stated in the U.S. Senate in 1830 in response to Southern Senators who contended that individual states had the right to refuse to obey Congress. - 1966 Robert Clifton Weaver was sworn in as the first African American cabinet member in U.S. history, becoming President Lyndon B. Johnson's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Jan. 19th - 1809 Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) poet and writer of mystery and suspense tales, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His works include; The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and his famous poem The Raven. – 1883 The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey. Jan. 20th – 1887 The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. – 1981 Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U.S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages. Jan. 21 – 1908 New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor. – 2008 Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since the September 11 attacks in 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%. Jan. 22nd – 1922 Pope Benedict XV died at the age of 68 - 1901 Queen Victoria of England died after reigning for 64 years, the longest reign in British history, during which England had become the most powerful empire in the world. Jan. 23rd – 1964 The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified – 1946 Don Whittington, American race car driver Jan. 24th – 1884 California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento. – 1933 The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices. Jan. 25th – 1791 The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada. – 1915 Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco. Jan. 26th – 1920 Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer. – 1949 The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976). Jan. 27th – 1967 Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. – 1984 Pop singer Michael Jackson suffers second degree burns to his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in the Shrine Auditorium. Jan. 28th – 1887 In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick – 1938 The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometers per hour (268.9 mph). Jan. 29th – 1936 The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced. – 1967 The "ultimate high" of the hippie era, the Mantra-Rock Dance, takes place in San Francisco and features Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg. Jan. 30th – 1835 In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen. – 1882 Franklin D. Roosevelt, American politician, 32nd President of the United States was born Jan. 31st – 1930 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape. – 1949 These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago. |