Encyclopedia of Days: Start the Day with History

By Steven Carol

Encyclopedia of Days uses daily events as a lens through which to view the broad panorama of history. Includes over six thousand entries for every day of the year, designed to both fascinate and educate.

Within its pages, you can learn that that Bjarni Herjulfson was the first European "discoverer" of record to locate North America, Paul Revere did not complete his famous ride, the Battle of Bunker's Hill was never fought there, Francis Hopkinsonnot Betsy Rossdesigned our first flag, and the US did not buy Florida.

Covers over 3000 years of history and a huge number of subjects illustrating geography, politics, international relations, economic, social events and popular culture. an important reminder of human frailties and triumphs, lending insight and perspective into the complex modern world.

While other compilations are mostly specialty works, dealing with a specific subject or time period, this work is far broader in scope, yet detailed in content.

Can be used as a basis for a fun game, can be used as a motivational tool in the business world to inspire employees and can be used as a classroom motivation to start the day.

This is an exceedingly practical and accessible volume, an indispensable reference for anyone that seeks a deeper understanding of both American and World history. All told, Encyclopedia of Days is a fun way to recall history and to learn some aspects of history that will amaze you. As such this unique reference belongs in everyone's home library.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 19, 2009
• ISBN: 9780595603282

Steven Carol

Steven Carol has a Ph.D. in history and is an author, public speaker, and radio personality. His specialties are the Middle East, U.S. history, U.S. government, the World Wars of the Twentieth century, and the Cold War. He has travelled to the region numerous times. He has also appeared on radio across the United States and in the Middle East.

Book preview

Contents

Foreword

Preface

JANUARY - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

FEBRUARY - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

MARCH - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

APRIL - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

MAY - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

JUNE - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

JULY - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

AUGUST - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

SEPTEMBER - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

OCTOBER - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

DECEMBER - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Appendix 8

Appendix 9

Appendix 10

Appendix 11

Appendix 12

Appendix 13

Appendix 14

Appendix 15

Appendix 16

Appendix 17

Appendix 18

Appendix 19

Appendix 20

Suggested Activities

Using Flags in the Teaching of History

Appendix 21

World Flag Days

About the Author

Bibliography

To Hadara for her encouragement, support and love.

To Shelli and David, with love for them and their posterity.

I wish to thank Eddie and Joan for their generous assistance in helping make this work possible and to Michael, Kobe, and Bill for their editorial and technical assistance.

Foreword

The study of history for students is like the study of cases in law school. When a law student reads a case, he extracts, from the court’s treatment of a fact situation, a legal principle. As he reads many cases, he has extracted from all of those fact situations, a large number of legal principles. Later, when he is in practice, and a potential client comes into his law office, the client will tell the lawyer a lot of facts without knowing their significance. It is up to the lawyer to spot the legal principles that will be used to evaluate the case, and argue it.

Reading history is like reading cases. As you read many fact situations in history, you develop a set of principles that enable you to analyze new situations which affect you as a citizen, either your vote or more direct participation. Dr. Carol has compiled historical fact situations so that you, the reader, can evaluate them, and argue your case with accuracy.

These principles should not predetermine the outcome. Every fact situation is new. None is an exact duplicate of anything that happened in the past. I remember Dean Rusk, the American Secretary of State who played a role in getting the United States into Vietnam. He had over-learned the lesson of Munich, that dictators must be stopped early, and helped to get us into a war that we should have avoided. Then, others over learned the opposite lessons of Vietnam, and made us into isolationists. And so it went with one generation after another, making mistakes because they had over learned some particular historical lesson. Rather, the study of history should give us a large set of many principles that help us to analyze a new fact situation.

To do this properly requires that we teach students analytical skills. Those skills are taught as part of a good history course. But it also requires that they have the correct facts. This forward supports that idea. That is the contribution of this book: by giving the correct facts, chronologically, it provides an accurate comprehensive basis for analysis. With the addition of the proper analytical skills students will become knowledgeable citizens, leaders of their communities and of the country. The future of our country and its free institutions depends on us doing this skillfully. I commend Dr. Carol for his contribution to this process.

Tom Horne

Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Preface

Each day of our lives has importance in history. Encyclopedia of Days uses daily events as a lens through which to view the broad panorama of history. It has multiple applications. It can be used as a basis for a fun game (see Suggested Activities) among adults, and adults with school age children without the need of a game board or pieces. It can be used as a classroom motivation to start the day, or tie in with a lesson. It can be used as a motivational tool in the business world to inspire employees via a speech, company newsletter/bulletin or presentation. The phrase I have not yet begun to fight!–John Paul Jones, September 23, 1779, could be used by business executives urging better performance from their employees. All told, Encyclopedia of Days is a fun way to recall history and to learn some aspects of history that you were never taught.

The 6,000+ entries were chosen to give a broad representation of political, economic, governmental, diplomatic, military, social and cultural events in United States and World history as well as geography. Many entries combine more than one of these subject areas within the single entry. They range from the well-known–September 11, 2001–Four passenger airliners were hijacked, by Islamic Al-Qaeda suicide terrorists … . crash[ing] into the World Trade Center … [and] the Pentagon … .–to the lesser known but nevertheless interesting: April 18, 1775: …While [Paul] Revere’s ride was immortalized… it was not completed. All the entries are designed to stimulate thought, curiosity, questioning and discussion. It is hoped that this will lead to conducting further in-depth research on a topic.

This book is primarily intended for lovers of history in general, and for teachers and students in particular. An additional group that may find this work of interest is the business world, especially if they publish a daily, weekly or monthly corporate newsletter or bulletin. Furthermore, anyone interested in what happened on their birthday, anniversary day or such similar day will find this work of value. Thus it can be used at home, in the office and at school.

The appendices are designed to consolidate several related individual events into the overall sweep of the larger historic event. To answer the question Where does the Battle of Breed’s Hill fit chronologically during the American Revolution? one would consult Appendix 3 Military Summary of the American Revolution. The appendices can also provide additional information on international and world regional organizations to help answer such questions as Which nations launched an oil-embargo against the United States in October 1973? (See Appendix 18–OAPEC.")

Other compilations of days in history, are mostly specialty works, dealing with a specific subject such as the Civil War, World War II or the 20th century. This more comprehensive, meticulously researched work is far wider in scope, and contains numerous, unusual pieces of information, including historic quotes. It was designed by a historian for lovers of history of all ages.

For most effective use of this work, use it chronologically as a day-by-day resource. An alternative valuable way to use this book is to consult the list of subjects, look up the name or term of interest and then check the text for detailed information.

Steven Carol, Ph.D.

September 2009

NOTE ON CALENDARS

All dates in the chronologies and the body of the book are given in the calendar traditionally referring to events before the birth of Jesus (BC) and continuing after his birth (AD), and now universally adopted and known to scholars as Before the Common Era (BCE) and the Common Era (CE).

JANUARY - ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

JANUARY 1

45 BCE–New Year’s Day was celebrated on this date for the first time as the Julian calendar first took effect.

404–The last known gladiator competition in Rome took place.

630–Muhammad set out toward Mecca with the army that would capture it bloodlessly.

990–Kievan Rus adopted the Julian calendar.

1582–New Year’s Day was introduced with the new Gregorian calendar in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

1600–Scotland began using the Julian calendar.

1673–Regular mail delivery began between New York and Boston.

1700–Russia began using the Julian calendar.

1738–Bouvet Island was discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.

1752–Great Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar. However, corrected dates were not implemented until September when September 2nd was followed by September 14th.

1776–During the Revolutionary War: The Grand Union (Continental) flag was raised by George Washington at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1788–First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.

1797–Albany replaced New York City as the capital of New York.

1801–The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland was completed as per the terms of the Act of Union (1800), to form the United Kingdom.

1801–The first known asteroid 1 Ceres was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.

1804–French rule ended as Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue, renaming it Haiti. It was the second independent nation in the Americas and the only successful slave rebellion in world history. The name Haiti was chosen in recognition of the old Arawak name for the island, Ayiti.

1806–The French Republican calendar was abolished.

1808–As per Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, a federal law went into effect banning the importation of slaves into the United States.

1818–Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus was first published.

1833–Great Britain claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic.

1861–Porfirio Diaz conquered Mexico City.

1863–During the Civil War: the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.

1863–The first claim under the Homestead Act was made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.

1880–Ferdinand de Lesseps began French construction of the Panama Canal. The attempt would fail.

1887–Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in Delhi.

1892–The first of more than 12 million immigrants passed through the doors of Ellis Island Immigration Station, as it opened in New York Harbor.

1893–Japan began using the Gregorian calendar.

1893–The U.S. Postal Service issued its first commemorative stamp.

1898–New York City annexed land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, were joined on January 25th by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

1899–Spanish rule ended in Cuba.

1901–Nigeria became a British protectorate.

1901–The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia federated as the independent Commonwealth of Australia. Edmund Barton became first Prime Minister.

1908–For the first time, an illuminated ball was dropped in New York City’s Times Square to signify the start of the New Year.

1911–The Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.

1912–The Republic of China was established.

1916–During World War I: German troops abandoned Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and began the long march to Spanish Guinea.

1927–Turkey adopted the Gregorian calendar. December 18, 1926 (Julian), was immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian).

1934–A federal prison was opened on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco harbor.

1934–Nazi Germany passed the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring.

1937–Anastasio Somoza became President of Nicaragua.

1939–William Hewlett and David Packard founded the Hewlett-Packard Corporation in Palo Alto, California.

1942–During World War II: The Declaration of the United Nations was signed by twenty-six nations (See Appendix 17).

1947–Aftermath of World War II: The American and British zones of occupation in Germany, merged to form Bizonia, an important step in the establishment of the Federal Republic of (West) Germany.

1948–British railways were nationalized to form British Rail.

1956–The Republic of the Sudan achieved independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.

1958–The European Economic Community was officially established.

1959–Fulgencio Batista, President of the Republic of Cuba, was overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces. This is celebrated as Cuba Liberation Day.

1960–The Republic of Cameroon achieved independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

1962–Western Samoa achieved independence from New Zealand-administered UN trusteeship; its name was changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa, later shortened to Samoa.

1962–The United States Navy Sea, Air and Land Forces (SEALs) were established.

1964–The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.

1965–The Arab Common Market was formed in Cairo, Egypt (See Appendix 18).

1971–Cigarette advertisements were banned on American television.

1972–Egypt, Libya, and Syria announced a short-lived Federation of Arab Republics.

1972–Kurt Waldheim of Austria became the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1973–The Kingdom of Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland were admitted into the European Economic Community (now the European Union).

1979–Formal diplomatic relations were established between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.

1981–The Republic of Greece was admitted into the European Economic Community (now the European Union).

1981–The Republic of Palau achieved self-government though it was not yet independent from the United States-administered UN trusteeship.

1982–Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru, became the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1983–ARPANET officially changed to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1984–The break-up of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies (each became an independent unit) under terms of an antitrust agreement signed in 1982.

1984–The Sultanate of Brunei gained independence from the United Kingdom.

1985–The Internet‘s Domain Name System was created.

1986–Aruba became independent of Curaçao, though it remained in free association (full autonomy) with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1986–Spain and Portugal were admitted into the European Economic Community (now the European Union).

1987–The city of Frobisher Bay, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, changed its name to Iqaluit.

1992–Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt became the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1993–The Velvet Divorce occurred as Czechoslovakia was divided into the now independent Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.

1993–A single market within the European Economic Community was introduced. It was to be henceforth known as the European Union.

1994–The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect.

1995–The World Trade Organization (WTO) was created to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

1995–The Kingdom of Sweden and the Republics of Austria and Finland were admitted into the European Union.

1996–Curaçao gained limited self-government, though it remained within free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1997–Kofi Annan of Ghana became the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1998–Smoking was banned in all bars and restaurants in the State of California.

1999–The Euro currency was introduced within the European Union.

2001–The first day of the Third Millennium.

2002–Euro banknotes and coins became legal tender in twelve of the European Union’s member states. It replaced the Deutsche Mark, the French franc, the Italian lira, the Spanish peseta, the Greek drachma, the Austrian schilling, the Belgian franc, the Finnish markka, the Irish pound, the Luxembourg franc, the Dutch guilder, and the Portuguese escudo.

2002–The Republic of China officially joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), as Chinese Taipei.

2002–The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially entered into force.

2004–Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the European Union.

2007–Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of (South) Korea, became the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations.

JANUARY 2

366 CE–The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.

533–Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.

1492–During the Reconquista: Muhammad XI surrendered Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. Spain was now totally free of Muslim control.

1635–Cardinal Richelieu established the Academie Francaise.

1757–During the Seven Years’ War: The United Kingdom captured Calcutta, India.

1788–Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1860–The discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.

1872–Brigham Young was arrested for bigamy (25 wives).

1882–John D. Rockefeller united his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust to avoid anti-monopoly laws.

1890–Alice Sanger became the first female staffer for the White House.

1893–Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America introduced railroad chronometers.

1896–The Jameson Raid, led by Leander Jameson against the Boer Transvaal Republic failed. It was launched, December 29, 1895, in the hope of triggering an uprising to overthrow the Boer republic. It helped trigger the Second Boer War.

1900–Secretary of State, John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.

1900–The Chicago Canal opened.

1905–During the Russo-Japanese War: After a six-month siege, the Russian fortress at Port Arthur, China, surrendered to Japanese forces under General Nogi.

1921–The first religious radio broadcast on KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, took place from the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church.

1923–U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigned due to the Teapot Dome scandal.

1929–Canada and the United States agreed on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.

1935–Bruno Hauptmann went on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.

1941–The U.S. government announced its Liberty ship program with a stated goal of building 200 freighters. Over 2,700 ships would eventually be constructed by the end of the war.

1942–During World War II: Manila, in the Philippines, was captured by Japanese forces.

1946–Unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II, King Zog abdicated but retained his claim to the throne.

1949–Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.

1959–The first artificial satellite to orbit the sun, Luna 1, was launched by the Soviet Union.

1974–President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 mph in order to conserve gasoline during an OAPEC embargo. The federally mandated speed limits were abolished in 1995.

1991–Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.

1998–Russia began to circulate new ruble currency to stem inflation and promote confidence.

JANUARY 3

1496–In a rare personal failure, Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine.

1512–The Catholic Church, under Pope Leo X, excommunicated Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

1749–Benning Wentworth began to issue the New Hampshire Grants on land which was also claimed by New York, and is now Vermont.

1777–During the Revolutionary War: American forces, under General George Washington, defeated British forces at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey (See Appendix 3).

1825–Robert Owen bought 30,000 acres in Indiana for his utopian community of New Harmony.

1861–Prelude to the Civil War: The Delaware legislature voted not to secede from the United States.

1868–Meiji Restoration in Japan restored authority of the Emperor, the Tokugawa shogunate was abolished and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.

1870–Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City. The bridge was completed 13 years later when it was opened to traffic on May 24, 1883.

1888–Marvin C. Stone patented the drinking straw.

1896–In the aftermath of the failed Jameson Raid against the Boer Transvaal Republic, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a congratulatory telegram to Transvaal president Paul Kruger–the Kruger Telegram–for stopping the British raiders. In the telegram Germany appeared to recognize the Transvaal and offer support. This was viewed as a challenge to Britain’s sphere of influence in southern Africa, and increased tensions between the United Kingdom and Germany.

1899–The first known use of the word automobile, appeared in an editorial in The New York Times.

1938–The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was first organized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1951–The police drama, Dragnet, was first broadcast on NBC television.

1958–Ten British colonies in the Caribbean joined to form an autonomous West Indies Federation. The members of the federation were: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica (to which were attached the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands as dependencies), Montserrat, Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (present day Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla), Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

1959–Alaska became the 49th state admitted to the Union.

1961–The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. They remain broken to this day.

1962–Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

1993–President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) in Moscow.

JANUARY 4

1493–Christopher Columbus left the New World, ending his first journey.

1809–Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, France.

1854–The McDonald Islands were discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.

1863–During the Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant’s controversial Order No. 11, expelling Jews from his department, was revoked by President Abraham Lincoln.

1896–Utah became the 46th state admitted to the Union.

1904–In the case of Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the United States freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens. They would gain citizenship in 1917.

1948–Thakin Nu of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League presided over the independence of Burma (now Myanmar) from the British Empire.

1951–During the Korean War: Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the Republic of (South) Korean capital city of Seoul for the second time in the conflict.

1960–As per the Treaty of Stockholm, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) came into existence (See Appendix 18).

1965–President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his Great Society program in his State of the Union Address.

1974–President Richard M. Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

2007–The 110th United States Congress convened, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives in U.S. history.

JANUARY 5

1781–During the Revolutionary War: Traitor Benedict Arnold led a British naval raiding force in the burning of Richmond, Virginia.

1815–Federalists from all over New England, angered over the War of 1812, concluded the Hartford Convention, where they had demanded states’ rights proposals be accepted that would lead to several important changes in the Constitution of the United States.

1836–David Davy Crockett arrived in Texas.

1895–Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French military wrongly accused of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. He was ultimately vindicated.

1896–The Austrian newspaper Wiener Presse reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as x-rays.

1909–Colombia recognized the independence of its break-away province of Panama.

1919–In Germany, the left-wing–Spartakusbund–Spartacist League–began a rebellion in Berlin. Terrified at the spread of Bolshevism into Germany, the army and the right-wing Freikorps ruthlessly suppressed the rebellion. On the same day, in Munich, the German Workers’ Party (later the National Socialist German Workers’ [Nazi] Party) was formed. Adolf Hitler became member number fifty-five.

1925–Wyoming’s Nellie T. Ross became the first female governor of that state, succeeding her late husband.

1933–Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay.

1939–Prelude to World War II: Adolf Hitler demanded the return of Danzig to Germany and special rights across the Polish Corridor (See Appendix 13).

1949–In his State of the Union address, President Harry Truman labeled his administration the Fair Deal.

1957–President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in an address to Congress, proposed offering military assistance to Middle Eastern countries threatened by Communist aggression; this became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

1968–Alexander Dubček came to power in Czechoslovakia, beginning a political reform of communism, known as Socialism with a human face and ushering in the Prague Spring, a brief period of relative freedom and reform.

1972–President Richard M. Nixon signed an order authorizing $5.5 billion for the development of a reusable space craft-the space shuttle.

1976–Cambodia was renamed Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge.

JANUARY 6

1412–According to tradition, Joan of Arc was born in Domremy, France.

1540–King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage last approximately six months.

1781–In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeated the last attempt by France to invade Jersey militarily.

1818–General Andrew Jackson wrote to President James Monroe offering to launch a military campaign to seize Spanish possessions in Florida.

1838–Samuel F.B. Morse publicly demonstrated his telegraph for the first time in Morristown, New Jersey.

1853–President-Elect Franklin Pierce and family were involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts.

1907–Maria Montessori opened her first school and day care center for working class children in Rome, Italy.

1912–New Mexico became the 47th state admitted to the Union.

1929–Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta, India, to begin a legacy of work amongst India’s poorest and diseased people.

1936–In the case of United States v. Butler et al., the Supreme Court of the United States ruled the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) unconstitutional on the grounds that the act did not levy a tax but an outright control over production and thus was exceeding the government’s responsibility.

1941–President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his Four Freedoms speech in which he defined four basic freedoms which Americans and all similarly minded peoples were dedicated to preserving: freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; and freedom from fear.

1942–The Pan American Airways (after 1950, Pan American World Airways) Pacific Clipper arrived in New York after making the first ‘round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1946–Allied occupying powers recognized Austria as a state with the boundaries of 1937.

1968–The United States returned the Crown of St. Stephen, symbol of Hungarian nationhood, to that country.

1992–Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

1995–A suspicious fire in an apartment in Manila, Philippines led police commander Aida Fariscal and her colleagues to discover and terminate the terrorist plot Operation Bojinka, a precursor to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Al-Qaeda financed plot had three parts: The first was a plot to destroy 11 airliners on January 21 and 22, 1995; the second referred to a plan to kill Pope John Paul II on January 15, 1995; and the third referred to a plan to crash planes into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia and other buildings.

2000–With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress formally certified George W. Bush the winner of the extremely close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.

JANUARY 7

1598–Upon the death of the childless Tsar Feodor, Boris Godunov seized the throne of Russia.

1610–Astronomer Galileo Galilei sighted four of Jupiter’s moons naming them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

1789–The first U.S. presidential election took place.

1800–The 13th president, Millard Fillmore was born in Summerhill, New York.

1822–Liberia was established on the west coast of Africa for free-born and formerly enslaved African-Americans.

1904–The Marconi International Marine Communication Company, Limited, of London announced that the telegraphed letters C-Q-D–(Come Quick Distress) would serve as a maritime distress call (it was replaced in 1906 by S-O-S).

1927–Commercial trans-Atlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York City and London.

1942–During World War II: The Japanese siege of Bataan, in the Philippines, began.

1953–President Harry Truman announced during his State of the Union address that the U.S. had developed the hydrogen bomb.

1979–Vietnamese troops captured Phnom Penh, Kampuchea (Cambodia) overthrowing the genocidal regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

1999–For the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate. President Bill Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted on a strict party-line vote. Later, a federal judge found him guilty of lying to the court and imposed a $50,000 fine. After he left office, the Arkansas Bar Association initiated a proceeding that resulted in the revocation of his law license and an additional $250,000 fine.

JANUARY 8

1297–The House of Grimaldi began its rule of Monaco, when François Grimaldi and his men captured the fortress protecting the famous Rock of Monaco while he was dressed as a Franciscan monk–or, in Italian, monaco.

1642–Astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Tuscany, Italy.

1790–George Washington delivered the first State of the Union Address in New York City.

1806–Cape Colony, South Africa, became a British colony.

1815–Aftermath of the War of 1812: American forces, under General Andrew Jackson, decisively defeated invading British forces at the Battle of New Orleans. The victory occurred two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed, ending that war (See Appendix 4).

1867–The right to vote–suffrage–was granted to all adult African-American men in the District of Columbia, when Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson’s veto of a bill granting this right and the bill became law.

1877–Lakota war chief Crazy Horse (Tashunka Witko) and his Lakota and Cheyenne warriors fought their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain in present day Montana.

1918–During World War I: President Woodrow Wilson announced the Fourteen Points For Peace to hopefully be implemented at the conclusion of the war.

1935–Rock ‘n Roll great, Elvis Presley was born, in Tupelo, Mississippi.

1959–Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.

1964–President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared a national War on Poverty.

1978–The Northern Mariana Islands became a commonwealth in political union with the United States.

2004–RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake‘s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

JANUARY 9

1768–Philip Astley staged the first modern circus in London, Great Britain.

1788–Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1839–The French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype photographic process, named after its inventor, Louis Daguerre.

1861–Prelude to the Civil War: The Republic of Mississippi was proclaimed, as Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union; its flag was the Bonnie Blue flag.

1861–Prelude to the Civil War: The Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements to Federal troops at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, retreated after being fired on by a battery in Charleston harbor.

1903–Wind Cave National Park was established in South Dakota.

1913–The 37th president, Richard M. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California.

1916–During World War I: Allied forces (from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Newfoundland and France) staged a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula on the Dardanelles, in Turkey. The Gallipoli Campaign resulted in an estimated 44,000 killed and 97,000 wounded. Ottoman forces suffered 86,000 killed and 164,000 wounded (See Appendix 10).

1929–The Seeing Eye was established in Nashville, Tennessee, with the mission to train dogs for assisting the blind.

1945–During World War II: General Douglas MacArthur and American forces returned to the Philippines, landing at Lingayen Gulf on the island of Luzon.

1957–Aftermath to the Sinai-Suez War: Anthony Eden resigned as British prime minister. He was succeeded by Harold Macmillan.

1960–With assistance from the Soviet Union, construction of the Aswan High Dam began in Egypt.

1964–Rioting in the Panama Canal Zone killed 21 Panamanians and 3 U.S. soldiers. This is remembered as The Day of the Martyr.

1968–The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) was formed by 11 Arab states. It was OAPEC that launched the oil embargo of the United States and other nations in October 1973 (See Appendix 18).

1980–Saudi Arabia beheaded 63 people for their attack in November 1979, on the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

JANUARY 10

49 BCE–Julius Caesar and his X Equestris legion crossed the Rubicon, violating Roman law and starting a civil war.

1776–Thomas Paine published his influential pamphlet, Common Sense, which attacked the rule of King George III and called for complete American independence.

1861–Prelude to the Civil War: Florida became the third state to secede from the Union.

1863–The London Metropolitan, the world’s first underground passenger railway (first subway), was opened to the public.

1870–The Standard Oil Company of Cleveland, Ohio was incorporated by John D. Rockefeller.

1890–The Tomb of Cleopatra was discovered in Egypt.

1920–The League of Nations, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, was established. Sir James Eric Drummond of the United Kingdom was elected as its first Secretary-General. (See Appendix 11).

1923–Lithuania seized and annexed Memel (present-day Klaipeda).

1927–The classic film Metropolis by Austrian director, Fritz Lang, premiered in Germany.

1928–The Soviet Union ordered the exile of Red Army founder, and Stalin opponent, Leon Trotsky.

1946–The League of Nations was officially dissolved. The first United Nations General Assembly opened in Westminster Central Hall in London, United Kingdom. Fifty-one member states were represented (See Appendix 17).

1984–The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

2000–America Online agreed to buy Time-Warner for $162 billion, making it the largest corporate merger to date.

JANUARY 11

1757–The first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton was born in Nevis in the West Indies.

1775–Francis Salvador the first Jew to be elected to office in any of the English colonies in North America, took his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress. He was a strong advocate of American independence and was the first Jew killed in the Revolution on August 1, 1776.

1805–Congress created the Michigan Territory, effective, June 30, 1805.

1861–Prelude to the Civil War: Alabama became the fourth state to secede from the Union.

1879–The Anglo-Zulu War broke out in southern Africa. It ended in a decisive British victory and ended the independence of the Zulu nation.

1913–The first sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th Automobile Show in New York.

1920–Robert Goddard invented the liquid fuel rocket.

1922–Insulin was first administered to a human patient, Leonard Thompson, with diabetes in Toronto, Canada.

1923–Aftermath of World War I: Troops from France and Belgium occupied the industrial Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments.

1935–Aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, that made her the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

1942–During World War II: Japan declared war against the Netherlands, the same day that Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.

1943–During World War II: The United States and Great Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.

1946–During the Cold War: Enver Hoxha, a communist, declared the People’s Republic of Albania with himself as dictator abolishing the Albanian monarchy.

1964–In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry issued the warning that smoking may be hazardous for one’s health.

1977–France set off an international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a PLO official behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

1980–Catalonia and the Basque country formally became autonomous regions of Spain.

JANUARY 12

1777–Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.

1838–In order to avoid anti-Mormon persecution, Joseph Smith, Jr., and his followers fled Ohio for Missouri.

1848–A revolution for independence erupted in Palermo, Sicily, against the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

1932–Hattie W. Caraway of Arkansas became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1939–Prelude to World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested an additional $552 million appropriation from Congress for defense. The funds were for building 3,000 aircraft, other military equipment, and to modernize U.S. bases in the Atlantic and Pacific.

1942–During World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt re-established the National War Labor Board.

1945–During WW II: German forces in Belgium retreated in the Battle of the Bulge, as Soviet forces began a huge offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.

1948–In the case of Sipeul v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.

1964–African nationalist rebels overthrew the predominantly Arab government in Zanzibar and established a people’s republic.

1966–Batman the television series, starring Adam West, was first broadcast on ABC.

1970–The first trans-Atlantic 747 jumbo jet flight took place.

1970–The self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria capitulated, ending the three year-long Nigerian Civil War.

1971–All in the Family premiered on CBS television, starring Caroll O’Conner as Archie Bunker.

1986–The space shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.

1991–Congress gave President George H.W. Bush authority to wage war in the Persian Gulf to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

JANUARY 13

1559–Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.

1733–The proprietor of the Georgia colony, James Oglethorpe arrived in Charleston, South Carolina with 130 prospective colonists (See Appendix 1).

1794–President George Washington approved a Congressional measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. The number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.

1830–Venezuela seceded from Gran Colombia.

1842–During the First Anglo-Afghan War: Dr.William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army, became famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reached the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad.

1898–Émile Zola published J’Accuse to expose the Dreyfus affair, and accused the French government of anti-Semitism.

1935–A plebiscite in Saarland showed that 90.3% of those voting wished to join Nazi Germany.

1942–During World War II: German U-boats begin Operation Drum Roll against ships on the U.S. east coast, where security was lax.

1957–The Wham-O toy company produced their first flying disc, later renamed the Frisbee.

1964–Capitol Records released the Beatles’ first single in the USA: I Wanna Hold Your Hand. It sold one million copies in the first three weeks.

1966–Robert C. Weaver became the first African-American Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1967–General Gnassingbé Eyadéma seized power in Togo after a coup d’état, ruling as head of state until his death in February 2005.

1986–A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, People’s Democratic Republic of (South) Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.

1988–In the case of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the Supreme Court ruled that … educators do not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.

1990–L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation’s first elected African-American governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond, Virginia.

1992–Aftermath to World War II: Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the war.

JANUARY 14

1129–Formal approval of the Order of the Knights Templar, popularly known as the Knights Templar, was given by the Church at the Council of Troyes.

1514–Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery.

1742–Astronomer Edmund Halley died in Greenwich, London.

1784–The U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris (1783), with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War.

1814–As a result of the Treaty of Kiel, Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania.

1875–The humanitarian, Albert Schweitzer was born in Kaisersberg, Alsace-Lorraine.

1893–As a consequence of the Manningham Mill strike in Bradford, Great Britain, the Independent Labor Party (a precursor to the current Labour Party) held its first meeting. It was formed by Keir Hardie.

1919–The Molasses Flood hit Boston, Massachusetts. A storage tank burst sending a 30’ wall of molasses streaming into Boston. As a result, 21 died.

1938–Norway claimed Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.

1942–During World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by proclamation, ordered all aliens in the United States to register with the government.

1943–During World War II: The Casablanca Conference began in Morocco, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French General Charles de Gaulle. The Allies agreed to invade the Mediterranean island of Sicily after driving Axis forces from North Africa. They also adopted the Allied policy of unconditional surrender towards the Axis (See Appendix 16).

1954–The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.

1963–George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of segregation forever.

JANUARY 15

588 BCE–Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem under King Zedekiah’s reign. The siege lasted until July 18, 586 BCE when the city fell to the Babylonians, ending the Kingdom of Judah. The conquerors destroyed the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem and exiled the land’s remaining inhabitants.

1535–Henry VIII declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England.

1559–Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey, London, England by Owen Oglethorpe, the Bishop of Carlisle, instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

1759–The world-renowned British Museum first opened to the public in London, Great Britain.

1777–During the Revolutionary War: New Connecticut declared its independence; it later became Vermont.

1782–Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris appeared before Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.

1790–Mutineers from HMAV Bounty arrived on Pitcairn Island in the Pacific.

1861–Elisha Otis received a patent, #31,128, for an elevator.

1870–A cartoon, entitled: A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion, by Thomas Nast depicting the Democratic Party as a donkey, first appeared in Harper’s Weekly.

1929–By a vote of 85 to 1, the U.S. Senate ratified the Kellogg-Briand Pact, a treaty outlawing aggression and war.

1929–Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was born, in Atlanta, Georgia.

1942–During World War II: Japanese forces invaded Burma (now Myanmar).

1942–Jawaharlal Nehru succeeded Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi as head of India’s National Congress Party.

1943–During World War II: The Pentagon, the world’s largest office building, opened in Arlington, Virginia. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Defense Department.

1951–Aftermath of World War II: Ilse Koch, The Bitch of Buchenwald, wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in the Federal Republic of (West) Germany.

1966–As a sign of the worsening Sino-Soviet dispute, the Soviet Union and Mongolia concluded as 20 year Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Under the treaty’s provisions, Soviet troops were to be stationed in Mongolia and maintain bases there.

1967–In the first Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.

1973–President Richard M. Nixon suspended all U.S. offensive military action in Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

1974–Happy Days premiered on ABC television.

1992–Yugoslavia, founded in 1918, effectively disintegrated as the European Community recognized the republics of Croatia and Slovenia.

JANUARY 16

27 BCE–Gaius Octavian was given the title Augustus Caesar by the Roman Senate.

929–During the Muslim occupation of Spain, Emir Abd ar-Rahman III of Cordoba declared himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.

1547–Ivan the Terrible was crowned Tsar of Russia.

1605–Book One of Don Quixote, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, was first published in Madrid, Spain.

1761–During the Seven Years’ War (known as the French and Indian War in North America): British forces captured Pondicherry, India from the French.

1786–The Virginia State legislature adopted an Ordinance of Religious Freedom. It had been written by Thomas Jefferson and introduced by James Madison. It was the model for the First Amendment of the Constitution.

1847–During the Mexican-American War: Commodore David Stockton of the U.S. Navy, appointed John C. Frémont the famed Pathfinder of Western exploration, governor of California.

1878–During the Russo-Turkish War: The Turkish steamer Intibah became the first vessel to be sunk by self-propelled torpedoes, launched from Russian torpedo boats operating from the tender Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin.

1883–Congress passed the Pendleton Act, creating the Civil Service Commission to award jobs based on the merit system. It is now known as the Office of Personnel Management.

1909–The expedition led by Sir Ernest H. Shackleton located the Magnetic South Pole.

1917–During World War I: The Zimmermann Telegram was dispatched, from Berlin to the German Legation in Mexico City.

1920–Prohibition began as the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, went into effect. It was repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-First Amendment.

1944–During World War II: In London, General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Expeditionary Force, destined to invade France.

1957–Three B-52 Stratofortresses took off from Castle Air Force Base in California; the first non-stop ‘round the world flight, which lasted 45 hours.

1964–The musical Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.

1979–Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the leader of Iran since 1941, was forced to flee the country, going to Egypt, never to return.

1984–President Ronald Reagan called for peaceful competition with the Soviet Union. He authorized research and development on space-age weapons capable of destroying incoming nuclear missiles. The program came to be known as Star Wars.

1991–Start of the Persian Gulf War: The White House announced Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, beginning with an allied bombardment of Baghdad. Because of the time difference it was early January 17th in the Persian Gulf. A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared that the mother of all battles had begun.

1992–El Salvador officials and rebel leaders signed the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ended a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000 lives.

2001–Aftermath of the Cuban-Spanish-American War: President Bill Clinton awarded former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in that conflict.

2002–Richard Reid was indicted in Boston on federal charges alleging he had tried to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes.

2003–The space shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew of seven, including Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. The mission ended in tragedy February 1st when the shuttle burned up during its reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.

2006–Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She became Africa’s first female elected head of state.

JANUARY 17

1377–Pope Gregory XI moved the Papacy back from Avignon, France, to Rome.

1524–Giovanni da Verrazzano began a voyage to find a westward all-water passage to China.

1706–Scientist, publisher, inventor, and politician, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

1781–During the Revolutionary War: American General Daniel Morgan led American forces during the Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina, which resulted in a decisive American victory over British forces led by Banastre Tarleton (See Appendix 3).

1819–Simón Bolívar proclaimed the Republic of Colombia.

1821–Moses Austin of Missouri, received permission to bring 300 families to Spanish Texas.

1840–Mexican Federalists in Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, declared the independence of a new Republic of the Rio Grande, seceding from Mexico. It only lasted until October 4, 1840.

1852–Under the terms of the Sand River Convention treaty, the United Kingdom recognized the independence of the Boer colonies north of the Transvaal River in southern Africa.

1871–Andrew Hallidie received a patent, #110,971, for the cable car.

1872–In a speech to the U.S. Senate, Senator Carl Schurz revived and expanded on a quotation first uttered by Stephen Decatur at an April 1816 banquet in Norfolk, Virginia to celebrate Decatur’s victory over Algerian Muslim raiders of U.S. shipping–the so-called Barbary pirates. Schurz declared: Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right.

1893–The Hawaiian Revolution began as the Citizen’s Committee of Public Safety, made up of businessmen and sugar planters and led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrew the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

1899–The United States took possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.

1917–During World War I: The U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.

1929–Popeye the Sailor, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appeared in the King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre.

1945–During World War II: After waiting for the Polish Home army to be destroyed by the Germans, Soviet and Polish communist forces liberated Warsaw.

1945–Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

1946–The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting at Church House in London, United Kingdom.

1949–The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first aired on CBS.

1961–In his Farewell Address to the nation, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against the increasing power of a military-industrial complex.

1966–A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying four unarmed 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Spanish coast. Three of the bombs were quickly recovered