JANUARY

Jan. 1

–  birthday:  1735 –  Paul Revere  /  1745 –  Anthony Wayne  (Revolutionary War general)  /  1752 –  Betsy Ross (flag designer)  /  1895  –  J. Edgar Hoover  (FBI Director 1924-1972)  /   1919 – J.D. Salinger  (author – Catcher in the Rye)  /  1942 –  Joe McDonald  (“Country Joe” and the Fish;  rock star  –  biggest hit =  “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-To-Die Rag”) 

–  1808 –   Congress bans the importation of slaves 

–  1831 –   William Lloyd Garrison publishes the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator

–  1863 –  Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect 

–  1892 –  Ellis Island opens (20 million will eventually go through its doors)

–  1902 –  first Rose Bowl;  Michigan beats Stanford 49-0  (Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl began in 1935)  

–  1907 –  Teddy Roosevelt sets a record by shaking 8,413 hands in one day 

–  1928 –  first air-conditioned office building opens in San Antonio 

–  1934 –  Alcatraz opens as a federal prison

–  1937 –  “Spam” gets its name at a party at the Hormel Mansion 

–  1942 –   the “United Nations Declaration” is signed by the U.S., Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China

–  1946 –  Hirohito announces he is not a god 

–  1962 –  Navy SEALs are formed 

–  1966 –  Surgeon General’s warning must appear on cigarettes 

–  1971 –  cigarette commercials are banned from TV 

–  1995 –  last Far Side cartoon

Quote:  History is written by the victors. –  Winston Churchill

Jan. 2

–  birthdays:  1861 –  Helen Taft (First Lady to Pres. Taft)  /  1904 –  Sally Rand (famous fan dancer)  /  1909 –  Barry Goldwater  (Republican candidate for President 1964)  /  1920 –  Isaac Asimov (science fiction author –  I, Robot  /  1936 –  Roger Miller (country singer –  biggest hit = “King of the Road”)   /  1968 –  Cuba Gooding, Jr.  (actor –  Jerry McGuire)

–  1870 –  construction begins on the Brooklyn Bridge

–  1900 – Secretary of State Hay announces the Open Door Policy

–  1906 –  Willis Carrier gets a patent for the air conditioner

–  1910 –  first junior high opens (Berkeley, California)

–  1935 –  Bruno Hauptman trial begins for kidnapping and murdering the Lindbergh baby

–  1941 –  the Andrews Sisters record “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”

–  1974 –  Pres. Nixon imposes a 55 mph speed limit on interstates to conserve gas

Quote:  Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. –  Harry S. Truman 

Jan. 3

– birthdays –  1621 –  William Tucker (first black born in the Colonies)  /  1793 –  Lucretia Mott (suffragist)  /  1879 – Grace Coolidge (First Lady 1923-29)  /  1901 –  Ngo Dinh Diem (leader of S. Vietnam 1954-63)  /  1923 –  Hank Stram (Hall of Fame NFL coach)  /  1956 – Mel Gibson (actor – Mad Max) 

–  1777 –  Washington wins the Battle of Princeton

                                 Battle of Princeton – Library of Congress

– 1823 –  Stephen F. Austin gets grant of land in Texas from the Mexican government

–  1899 –  the word “automobile” appears for the first time (in a New York newspaper)

–  1919 –  Herbert Hoover put in charge of war relief in Europe

–  1925 –  Mussolini dissolves the Italian parliament and declares himself dictator

–  1938 –  March of Dimes established to fight polio

–  1945 –  flag raised on Iwo Jima

–  1952 –  Dragnet premieres

–  1959 –  Alaska admitted as 49^th state

–  1962 –  Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro

–  1967 –  Jack Ruby dies in prison from cancer

–  1973 –  George Steinbrenner buys the Yankees

–  1973 –  Daniel Ellsberg goes to trial for releasing “The Pentagon Papers” to the newspapers

–  1987 –  Aretha Franklin becomes first female inducted into Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame

–  1990 –  Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. forces in Panama

–  1993 –  Pres. George HW Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign START II Treaty to reduce nuclear weapons

–  2004 –  Casey Kasem gives up hosting America’s Top 40 to Ryan Seacrest

Quote:  As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path. –  Barack Obama

Jan. 4

–  birthdays:  1838 –  Tom Thumb (little person who performed for P.T. Barnum)  /  1930 – Don Shula (Hall of Fame NFL coach)  /  1935 – Floyd Patterson (heavyweight boxing champ and Olympic gold medalist)  /  1943 –  Doris Kearns Goodwin (historian – Team of Rivals) 

–  1853 –  Solomon Northrop (Twelve Years a Slave) regains his freedom

–  1863 –  James Plimpton patents the four-wheel roller skate

–  1896 –  after giving up on polygamy, Utah enters as the 45^th state

–  1903 –  Topsy the elephant is electrocuted to death for killing her trainer (it is filmed by Edison)

–  1944 –  Ralph Bunche appointed first black in the State Department

–  1951 –  Chinese forces recapture Seoul in the Korean War

–  1958 –  Sputnik I falls to Earth after 92 days in orbit

–  1974 –  Nixon refuses to turn over subpoenaed tapes 

Quote:  The reward for a thing well done is to have done it.  –  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jan. 5

–  birthdays –  1779 – Stephen Decatur (naval hero – War of 1812)  /  1779 – Zebulon Pike (explorer – Pike’s Peak)  /  1855 – King Gillette (inventor of inexpensive disposable razor)  /  1874 –  Joseph Erlanger (physiologist who won the Nobel Prize for developing shock therapy)  /  1914 –  George Reeves (actor who played Superman on TV)  /  1928 –  Walter Mondale (Carter’s Vice President)  /  1931 – Robert Duvall (actor – Tender Mercies) /  1946 – Diane Keaton (actress – Annie Hall)  /  1969 – Marilyn Manson (shock rocker – biggest hit = “Mechanical Animals”)  /  1975 –  Bradley Cooper (actor – Silver Linings Playbook)

–  1781 –  British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond

–  1914 –  Henry Ford raises his wages from $2.40 / 9 hours to $5.00 / 8 hours per day

–  1924 –  Charles Chrysler introduces his first car

–  1925 –  Nellie Taylor Ross becomes first woman governor (Wyoming)

–  1930 –  Bonnie Parker meets Clyde Barrow for the first time

–  1933 – work begins on the Golden Gate Bridge

–  1945 –  Pepe Lepew makes his first appearance in “Odor-able Kitty”

–  1949 –  Truman labels his administration the “Fair Deal”

–  1959 –  Buddy Holly releases his last record – “It Doesn’t Matter” (29 days before his death)

–  1968 –  Dr. Benjamin Spock is indicted for violating the draft law

–  1993 –  Reggie Jackson elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

–  1972 –  Pres. Nixon proposes the space shuttle program

Quote:  It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of the voyage.  –  Henry Ward Beecher

Jan. 6

–  birthdays –  1580 – John Smith (leader of the Jamestown settlement)  /  1799 – Jedediah Smith (mountain man)  /  1878 –  Carl Sandburg (poet – winner of three Pulitzer Prizes)  /  1880 – Tom Mix (silent movie cowboy)  /  Danny Thomas (comedian – Danny Thomas Show)  /  1957 –  Nancy Lopez (golfer)  /  1961 –  Howie Long (NFL Hall of Fame / broadcaster) 

–  1759 –  George Washington weds wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis

–  1838 –  Samuel Morse demonstrates the telegraph for the first time

–  1873 –  Congress begins investigating the Credit Mobilier scandal

–  1912 –  New Mexico becomes the 47^th state

–  1919 –  Teddy Roosevelt passes away at age 60

–  1941 –  FDR gives his “Four Freedoms” speech

–  1957 –  Elvis Presley makes his 7^th and final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show

–  1973  –  Schoolhouse Rock debuts

–  1975 – Wheel of Fortune debuts

–  1994 –  figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked two days before the American National Figure Skating Championships

Quote:  There are two great tragedies in life.  One is to not get your heart’s desire.  The other is to get it.  –  George Bernard Shaw

Jan. 7

–  birthdays –  1718 – Israel Putnam (Revolutionary War general)  /  1800 – Millard Fillmore (13^th President 1950-53)  /  1891 –  Zora Neale Hurston  (writer)  /  1912 – Charles Addams (cartoonist who created The Addams Family)  /  1963 –  Rand Paul  (politician)  /  1964 – Nicholas Cage (actor – Leaving Las Vegas) 

–  1894 –  Edison makes the first copyrighted film – 5 seconds of a man sneezing

–  1927 –  Harlem Globetrotters play their first game

–  1934 –  Flash Gordon comic strip debuts

–  1999 –  impeachment trial of Clinton begins

Quote:  The world is divided into people who do great things and those who get credit for it.  Try, if you can, to belong in the first group.  There’s far less competition.  –  Dwight Morrow

Jan. 8

–  birthdays –  1821 –  James Longstreet (Confederate general)  /  1935 – Elvis Presley  (biggest hit =  “It’s Now or Never”)  /  1969 –  R. Kelly  (rapper – biggest hit =  “Bump ‘N Grind”)  /  1983 – Kim Jong-un (dictator of North Korea 2011 – ) 

–  1790 –  Pres. Washington delivers the first state of the union address

–  1815 – Gen. Andrew Jackson wins the Battle of New Orleans

–  1877 – Crazy Horse fights his last battle at Wolf Mountain

–  1918 – Wilson outlines his Fourteen Points

–  1946 –  the Nuremberg Trials begin

–  1947 –  George Marshall becomes Secretary of State

–  1954 –  Elvis records his first two songs (“Casual Love” and “I Won’t Stand in Your Way”) for $4

–  1956 –  Elvis’ “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog” goes #1 and stays there for 11 weeks

–  1962 –  Jack Nicklaus plays his first professional golf tournament

–  1964 –  President Johnson declares a “war on poverty”

–  1968 –  Jacques Cousteau’s first undersea TV program

–  1973  –  Judge Sirica starts the trial of the Watergate burglars

–  1992 –  President George HW Bush vomits in the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister

–  2002 –  Pres. George W. Bush signs the No Child Left Behind Act

–  2011 –  attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords

Quote:  Here is the answer which I wish to give to President Roosevelt.  Give us the tools and we will finish the job.  –  Winston Churchill about the Lend-Lease Act

Jan. 9

–  birthdays –  1901 – Chic Young (cartoonist – Blondie)  /  1913 – Richard Nixon (37^th President 1969-1974)  /  1934 –  Bart Starr (Hall of Fame NFL quarterback and winner of the first two Super Bowls)  /  1935 – Bob Denver (Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island)  /  1941 –  Joan Baez  (folk singer – biggest hit = “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”)  /  1951 – Crystal Gayle (country music singer – biggest hit = “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”)

–  1793 –  first hot air balloon flight in the U.S.

–  1945 –  American troops land on Luzon in the Philippines

–  1959  –  Rawhide premieres, one of 30 Westerns on TV that year

–  1989 –  Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski are voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

Quote:  That’s one small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind.  –  Neil Armstrong

Jan. 10

–  birthdays  –  1738 –  Ethan Allen (Revolutionary War leader of the Green Mountain Boys)  /  1864 –  George Washington Carver (agricultural scientist)  /  1936 – Stephen Ambrose (historian –  Band of Brothers)  /  1949 –  George Foreman (heavyweight boxing champ)  /  1953 –  Pat Benatar (rock singer –  biggest hit = “Love is a Battlefield”)  

–  1776 –  Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense

–  1879 –  John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil

–  1901 –  oil discovered at an oil well called Spindletop near Beaumont starting the Texas oil boom

–  1917 –  Silent Sentinels begin protesting outside the White House

–  1920 –  League of Nations begins in Paris

–  1946 –  United Nations meets for the first time in London

–  1949 –  RCA introduces the 45 rpm record

–  1967 –  Edward Brooks becomes the first African-American Senator

–  1999 –  The Sopranos debuts

Quote:  Big things are expected of us, and nothing big ever came of being small.  –  Bill Clinton (second inaugural address)

Jan. 11

–  birthdays –  1755 – Alexander Hamilton  /  1842 – William James (philosopher – Pragmatism)  /  1885 – Alice Paul (suffragist – National Woman’s Party)  /  1971 – Mary J. Blige (singer – biggest hit = “Family Affair”) 

–  1813 –  pineapples are planted for the first time in Hawaii

–  1838  –  Samuel Morse publicly demonstrates his telegraph for the first time

–  1902 –  Popular Mechanics publishes its first issue

–  1935 –  Amelia Earhart takes off from Hawaii to make the first solo flight to North America

–  1940 –  Benjamin Davis becomes the first African-American general

–  1964 –  the Surgeon General issues the first official warning against cigarettes

–  1973 –  American League adopts the designated hitter rule

Quote:  Iron rusts from disuse;  stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen;  so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.  –  Leonardo da Vinci

Jan. 12

–  birthdays –  1588 –  John Winthrop (first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony)  /  1876 –  Jack London (writer –  Call of the Wild)  /  1893 –  Herman Goering   /  1923 – Ira Hayes  (American Indian who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima)  /  1944 –  Joe Frazier (heavyweight boxing champ)  /  1951 –  Rush Limbaugh (radio personality)  /  1954 – Howard Stern (radio personality)  /  1964 – Jeff Bezos  (founder of Amazon)  /  1965 – Rob Zombie (rock star and movie-maker)

–  1904 –  Barney Oldfield sets a new car speed record at 91 mph

–  1926 –  Sam ‘n Harry (later changed to Amos ‘n Andy) debuts on radio

–  1932 –  Hattie Caraway elected the first woman Senator (Arkansas)

–  1939 –  Timely Comics (later Marvel) founded

–  1957 –  Southern Christian Leadership Conference formed with Martin Luther King, Jr. as leader

–  1959 –  Motown records founded by Barry Gordy, Jr.

–  1966 – Batman TV show debuts

–  1971 –  All in the Family debuts and includes the first toilet flush on TV

–  1986 –  Dr. Franklin Diaz becomes the first Hispanic in space when he takes off in the space shuttle Columbia

–  1995 –  O.J. Simpson murder trial begins

–  2001 –  Lizzie McGuire premieres on the Disney Channel

–  2017 –  Pres. Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Vice President Biden

–  2019 –  Missy Eliot becomes first female rapper inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame

Quote:  The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation…The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.  –  Jacob Bronowski

Jan. 13

–  birthdays –  1808 –  Salmon Chase (Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury and sixth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court)  /  1832 – Horatio Alger (children’s author – Ragged Dick)  /  1919 –  Robert Stack (actor – The Untouchables)  /  1961 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus (actress – Seinfeld / Veep)  /  1966 –  Patrick Dempsey (actor –  Grey’s Anatomy)  /  Orlando Bloom (actor –  Lord of the Rings)

–  1794 –  Congress changes the flag to 15 stars and 15 stripes

–  1933 –   Babe Didrikson Zaharias, after winning two gold medals at the Olympics, scores nine points in her professional basketball debut;  later she becomes a successful professional golfer

–  1962 –  Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” reaches #1 for the second time in two years

–  1966 –  Pres. Lyndon Johnson appoints Robert Weaver as the first black on a Presidential Cabinet (HUD)

-2019 — LSU completes the greatest season in college football history by pummeling Clemson 42-25

Quote:  A woman is like a teabag – only in hot water do you realize how strong she is.  –  Nancy Reagan

Jan. 14

–  birthdays –  1741 –  Benedict Arnold  /  1919 –  Andy Rooney (news commentator)  /  1921 –  Ken Sailors (pro basketball player who is credited with inventing the jump shot)  /  1932 – Don Garlits (drag car racer; first to break 200 mph)  /  1941 –  Faye Dunaway  (actress –  Bonnie and Clyde)  /  1963 – Steven Soderbergh (director – Traffic)  /  `1964 – Shepard Smith (news anchor)  /  1968 –  LL Cool J (actor/rapper –  biggest hit = “Loungin’”)  /  1969 –  Dave Grohl (rock star for Foo Fighters – biggest hit =  “Best of You”)  /  1969 –  Jason Bateman (actor – Arrested Development) 

–  1639 –  Connecticut adopts the first constitution in the Colonies – the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

–  1794 –  first birth by cesarean section in the U.S.;  Dr. Jesse Bennett performed it on his wife Elizabeth without anesthesia

–  1799 –  Eli Whitney gets government contract for 10,000 muskets

–  1864 –  Gen. Sherman begins his march to the sea

–  1914 –  Ford introduces the first moving assembly line

–  1943 –  FDR leaves to meet Churchill at Casablanca (first President to fly in a plane)

–  1960 –  the Army promotes Elvis Presley to sergeant

–  1963 –  George Wallace sworn in as governor of Alabama and proclaims “segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever.”

–  1972 –  Sanford and Son premieres

–  1979 –  Pres. Carter proposes a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday

Quote:  Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.  –  Poor Richard

Jan. 15

–  birthdays –  1823 –  Matthew Brady (famous Civil War photographer)  /  1870 – Pierre DuPont (founder of the company)  /  1908 –  Edward Teller (father of the hydrogen bomb)  /  1929 –  Martin Luther King, Jr. /  1971 –  Regina King (actress – Southland)  /  1979 –  Drew Brees (quarterback)  /  1981 –  Pitbull (rapper – biggest hit =  “I Know You Want Me”) 

–  1861 –  Elisha Otis gets a patent for the steam-powered elevator

–  1870 –  donkey first used as the official symbol of the Democratic Party by Thomas Nast

–  1919 – the “Great Molasses Flood” –  21 drown when two million gallons of molasses flood Boston from a ruptured storage tank

–  1951 –  Ilse Koch (the “Witch of Buchenwald”), wife of the commandant, is sentenced to life in prison

–  1967 –  first Super Bowl – Green Bay defeats Kansas City

–  1974 –  Happy Days premieres

–  1976 – Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life for attempting to assassinate Pres. Ford

–  1981 –  Hill Street Blues debuts

–  2001 –  Wikipedia debuts

–  2009 –  “Miracle on the Hudson” –  Chesley Sullenberger lands a crippled airliner on the Hudson River

Quote:  Then join in hand and hand, brave Americans all –  By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.  –  John Dickinson’s “The Liberty Song”

Jan. 16

–  birthdays –  1910 –  David McCampbell (Navy ace and Medal of Honor winner who shot down 34 Japanese planes in WWII)  /  1910 –  Dizzy Dean (Hall of Fame pitcher)  /  1935 –  A.J. Foyt (winner of the Indy 500 four times)  /  1948 – John Carpenter (director – Halloween)  /  1980 –  Lin-Manuel Miranda (actor/playwright – Hamilton) 

–  1883 –  the Pendleton Act creates the Civil Service system

–  1917 – the Zimmerman Note

–  1919 –  Prohibition goes into effect

–  1959 –  Castro finishes the overthrow of Batista in Cuba

–  2001 –  Pres. Clinton awards the Medal of Honor to Teddy Roosevelt for Kettle Hill

–  2003 –  space shuttle Columbia makes its first trip

Quote:  Go west young man, and grow up with the country.  –  Horace Greeley

Jan. 17

–  birthdays –  1706 – Ben Franklin  /  1806 –  James Madison Randolph (Jefferson’s grandson – first baby born in the White House)  /  1899 – Al Capone (gangster)  /  1922 – Betty White (actress – Golden Girl)  /  1941 –  Muhammad Ali  /  1962 – Jim Carrey (actor – Ace Ventura)  /  1964 – Michelle Obama  /  1971 – Kid Rock (rapper – biggest hit =  “Picture”)  /  1980 –  Zooey Deschanel (actress – New Girl)  /  1982 – Dwyane Wade  (basketball player) 

–  1899 – U.S. takes possession of Wake Island

–  1929 –  Popeye makes first appearance in a comic strip

–  1946 –  first meeting of the UN Security Council

–  1949 –  the first Volkswagen Beetle arrives in America

–  1961 –  Pres. Eisenhower gives his “military industrial complex” speech

–  1966 –  a B-52 bomber collides with a tanker over Spain, dropping three nuclear bombs which do not explode but do emit radiation

–  1977 –  Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah;  first execution since reinstatement of the death penalty

–  1987 –  Pres. Reagan signs secret order to sell arms to Iran (the Iran-Contra Scandal)

–  1991 – Operation Desert Storm begins with the bombing of Iraq

Quote:  A house divided against itself can not stand.  I believe government cannot permanently half slave and half free.  –  Lincoln

Jan. 18

–  birthdays –  1782 – Daniel Webster (politician; Secretary of State)  /  1813 –  Joseph Glidden (inventor of barbed wire)  /  1858 –  Daniel Williams (performed the first open heart surgery)  /  1892 –  Oliver Hardy (movie partner of Stan Laurel)  /  1904 – Cary Grant  (actor – Arsenic and Old Lace)  /  1911 – Danny Kaye (actor – White Christmas)  /  1955 – Kevin Costner (actor –  Dances With Wolves) 

–  1778 –  Captain James Cook discovers the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)

–  1919 –  Versailles peace conference opens

–  1943 –  German siege of Leningrad ends

–  1966 –  Robert Weaver confirmed as the first African-American cabinet member (HUD)

–  1983 –  the International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s medals which were taken away from him after the 1912 Olympics for being paid $25 for playing semi-pro baseball

–  1993 –  MLK Day observed in all fifty states for the first time

Quote:  Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free.  –  Emma Lazarus

Jan. 19

–  birthdays –  1807 – Robert E. Lee (Confederate general)  /  1809 – Edgar Allan Poe  /  1813 – Henry Bessemer (developed the Bessemer Process for producing cheap steel)  /  Janis Joplin  (rock and blues singer – biggest hit =  “Me and Bobby McGee”)  /  1946 –  Dolly Parton (country singer – biggest hit =  “Working 9 to 5”)  /  1954 – Katey Sagal  (actress – Peggy in “Married With Children”)  /  1982 – Pete Buttigieg (politician) 

–  1955 –  first presidential press conference filmed for TV (Eisenhower)

–  1961 –  Dick Van Dyke Show premieres

–  1971 –  “Helter Skelter” by the Beatles is played at Charles Manson’s trial

–  1977 – Pres. Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (Tokyo Rose)

–  2013 –  Lance Armstrong admits to doping in his Tour de France victories

Quote:  The chief business of the American people is business.  –  Calvin Coolidge

Jan. 20

–  birthdays –  1888 –  Lead Belly (blues guitarist – “Rock Island Line”)  /  1896 – George Burns (actor/comedian – Oh God!)  /  1920 –  Deforest Kelley (“Bones” on Star Trek)  1930 –  Buzz Aldrin (second man on the moon)  /  1956 –  Bill Maher (comedian/political commentator)  /  1964 –  Ozzie Guillen (Hall of Fame short stop)  /  1966 – Rainn Wilson (actor – The Office) 

–  1801 –  John Marshall appointed Chief Justice

–  1869 –  Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes first woman to testify before Congress

–  1870 –  Victoria Woodhull and her sister open the first stock brokerage firm run by women

–  1892 –  students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass. play the first basketball game

–  1920 –  American Civil Liberties Union founded

–  1930 –  “Lone Ranger” debuts on radio

–  1930 –  Charles Lindbergh sets record for flying across the country in 14.75 hours

–  1945 –  FDR sworn in to unprecedented fourth term

–  1949  –  Truman’s inaugural parade becomes the first televised

–  1961 –  Kennedy is inaugurated as the youngest man ever elected President

–  1980 –  Pres. Carter announces boycott of the Moscow Olympics

–  1981 –  hostages released from Iranian embassy after 444 days

–  1982 –  Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat in a concert in Des Moines, Iowa

–  1986 –  first Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday

–  1993 –  Maya Angelou becomes first African-American and woman to recite a poem at an inauguration (Clinton);  poem is “On the Pulse of Morning”

–  2008 –  Breaking Bad debuts

–  2009 –  Barack Obama sworn in as first African-American President

Quote:  I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American public.  –  FDR

Jan. 21

–  birthdays –  1824 –  Stonewall Jackson (Confederate general)  /  1918 – Dick Winters (commander of Easy Company of “Band of Brothers”)  /  1927 –  Telly Savalas (actor –  Kojak)  /  1938 –  Wolfman Jack (famous DJ)  /  1940 – Jack Nicklaus (golfer with the most major titles)  /  1953 – Paul Allen (co-founder – Microsoft)

–  1950 –  Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury for denying being a Soviet spy

–  1968 –  the Battle of Khe Sanh begins in Vietnam

–  1977 –  Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders

–  1978 –  Bee Gees’  “Saturday Night Fever” goes #1 and stays for 24 weeks

Quote:  The thing about America that impresses me most is how parents obey their children.  – King Edward VIII (1957)

Jan. 22

–  birthdays –  1875 –  D.W. Griffith (America’s first great film director –  “Birth of a Nation”)  /     1931 – Sam Cooke (inventor of soul music –  “You Send Me”)  

–  1968 –  Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In debuts

–  1972 –  Roe v. Wade ruling legalizes abortion

Quote:  America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.  –  John Updike

Jan. 23

–  birthdays –  1737 –  John Hancock (first signer of the Declaration of Independence)  /  1899 –  Humphrey Bogart (actor – Casablanca)  /  1951 – Chesley Sullenberger  (pilot who landed on the Hudson River)  /  1953 –  Robin Zander (lead singer for Cheap Trick –  biggest hit =  “The Flame”)  /  1998 –  XXTentacion (rapper – biggest hit =  “Sad!”) 

–  1849 –  Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to earn a medical degree in America

–  1855 –  first bridge over the Mississippi River at Minneapolis, Minnesota

–  1933 –  20^th Amendment which changes inauguration day to Jan. 20 is ratified

–  1957 –  Wham-O company produces the first “Pluto Platter” (later known as the “Frisbee”)

–  1968 –  USS Pueblo, surveillance ship, is captured off the coast of North Korea

–  1973 –  George Foreman defeats Joe Frazier to become heavyweight boxing champ

–  1977 –  Roots miniseries premieres

–  1979 –  Willie Mays elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

–  1983 –  The A-Team debuts

–  1986 –  first inductions to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame –  Elvis Presley, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis

–  1998 –  Michael Jordan scores in double figures for the 800^th game in a row (he would add another 40)

–  2013 –  US Army overturns the ban on women in combat

Quote:  Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.  – Douglas MacArthur

Jan. 24

–  birthdays –  1862 – Edith Wharton (novelist – Ethan Fromme)  /  1917 –  Ernest Borgnine (actor –  Marty)  /  1941 –  Neil Diamond  (singer – biggest hit = “Cracklin’ Rosie”)  /  1943 –  Sharon Tate (actress killed by the Manson cult)  /  Warren Zevon  (rock singer –  biggest hit =  “Werewolves of London”)  /  1949 –  John Belushi  (actor – The Blues Brothers)  /  1968 –  Mary Lou Retton (gymnast – winner of the gold medal for all-around at the 1984 Olympics) 

–  1776 –  Henry Knox arrives outside Boston with cannons from Ft. Ticonderoga

–  1848 –  James Marshall discovers gold at Sutter’s Mill in California

–  1922 –  Christian Nelson patents Eskimo Pie

–  1935 –  first canned beer – “Kruegers Crème Ale”

–  1940 –  movie The Grapes of Wrath premieres

–  1950 –  Jackie Robinson signs highest contract in Dodger’s history  ($35,000)

–  1962 –  Jackie Robinson becomes first black elected to the Hall of Fame

–  1984 –  the first Macintosh computer goes on sale for $2,495

–  2003 –  Department of Homeland Security begins operations

Quote:  Communism is like Prohibition – it’s a good idea, but it won’t work.  –  Will Rogers

Jan. 25

–  birthdays:  1938 –  Etta James (singer)  /  1981 –  Alicia Keys (singer –  biggest hit =  “No One”) 

–  1787 –  in Shays’ Rebellion, the rebels fail to capture the armory at Springfield, Mass.

–  1840 –  expedition lead by Charles Wilkes identifies Antarctica as a continent

–  1890 –  Nellie Bly arrives back from her trip around the world;  it took her 72 days

–  1890 –  United Mine Workers union is formed

–  1904 –  179 miners die in an explosion in a mine in Cheswick, Pennsylvania

–  1915 –  first transcontinental phone call as Bell in NYC phones Thomas Watson in San Francisco

–  1939 –  first splitting of a uranium atom in a basement at Columbia University

–  1947 – Al Capone dies of syphilis

–  1961 –  first televised presidential news conference by Kennedy

–  1964 –  the Beatles have their first #1 hit in America ‘ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”

–  1971 –  Charles Manson and three followers are convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders

Quote:  Whatsoever man sows, so shall he reap.  –  the Bible

Jan. 26

–  birthdays:  1880 –  Douglas MacArthur  /  1925 – Paul Newman (actor – Hud)  /  1955 –  Eddie Van Halen (rock guitarist for Van Halen – biggest hit =  “Jump”)  /  1958 –  Ellen Degeneres  (tolk show host)  /  1961 –  Wayne Gretzky  (NHL leading all time scorer)  /  1977 –  Vince Carter (dunking NBA player) 

–  1784 –  Ben Franklin argues against the eagle as the national symbol

–  1918 –  Herbert Hoover of the Food Administration calls for “wheatless” and “meatless” days

–  1961 –  Elvis’ “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” reaches #1

–  1970 –  Navy Lt. Everett Alvarez, Jr. spends his 2,000 day as a prisoner of war in Vietnam;  he is released with the rest of the POWs in 1974

–  2005 –  Condoleeza Rice sworn in as first African-American woman to be Secretary of State

Quote:  I disapprove what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.  –  Voltaire

Jan. 27

–  birthdays:  1850 –  Samuel Gompers (labor union leader – American Federation of Labor)  /  1859 –  Kaiser William II  /  1908 –  William Randolph Hearst (newspaper magnate)  /  1968 – Tracy Lawrence (country singer) 

–  1825 –  Congress approves Indian Territory (Oklahoma today)

–  1880 –  Edison patents the electric incandescent light

–  1888 –  National Geographic Society founded

–  1913 –  Jim Thorpe is stripped of his gold medals for the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics because he was paid to play semi-pro baseball

–  1918 –  the first Tarzan movie (“Tarzan of the Apes”) is released

–  1943 –  American bombers bomb Germany for the first time

–  1944 –  siege of Leningrad lifted after 880 days

–  1945 –  Soviet Army liberates Auschwitz

–  1948 –  first tape recorder sold

– 1956 –  Elvis releases “Heartbreak Hotel” – his first million-selling single

–  1967 –  a launch-pad fire claims the lives of three astronauts –  Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chafee

–  1973 –  the Paris Peace Accords are signed, ending American involvement in Vietnam

–  1984 –  Michael Jackson is burned while filming a Pepsi commercial

Quote:  What is freedom of expression?  Without the freedom to offend, it does not exist.  –  Salman Rushdie

Jan. 28

–  birthdays:  1912 – Jackson Pollock (expressionist painter)  /  1936 –  Alan Alda  (Hawkeye Pierce on MASH)  /  1980 –  Nick Carter (singer – Backstreet Boys – biggest hit = “Quit Playing Games”)  /  1981 – Elijah Wood (actor – Lord of the Rings)  /  1998 –  Ariel Winter  (actress – Modern Family) 

–  1915 –  Coast Guard created

–  1956 –  Elvis Presley’s first national TV appearance (Dorsey Bros Stage Show)

–  1958 –  the Lego company patents its design for Lego blocks

–  1985 –  all-stars record “We Are the World” for charity for Ethiopia

–  1986 –  space shuttle Challenger explodes killing all seven astronauts including teacher Christa McAuliffe

Quote:  Human beings are never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.  –  Laurens van der Post

Jan. 29

–  birthdays:  1737 –  Thomas Paine (revolutionary who wrote “Common Sense” and “The Crisis”)  /  1756 –  Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee (Revolutionary War cavalry leader and father of Robert E. Lee)  /  1843 –  William McKinley (25^th President 1897-1901)  /  1874 – John D. Rockefeller (oil robber baron)  /  1880 – W.C. Fields (comedian – The Bank Dick)  /  1923 – Paddy Chayevsky (dramatist – Marty)  /  1945 – Tom Selleck (actor – Magnum, P.I.)  /  1954 – Oprah Winfrey  /  1970 – Heather Graham (actress –  Drugstore Cowboy) 

–  1845 –  Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is published

–  1861 –  Kansas becomes the 34^th state

–  1907 –  Charles Curtis becomes the first Native American in the Senate

–  1936 – first players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame –  Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Matthewson, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson

–  1959 –  “Sleeping Beauty” is released

–  1963 –  Jim Thorpe, George Halas, and Red Grange elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame

–  2002 – Pres. George W. Bush calls out the “Axis of Evil” (Iran, Iraq, North Korea) in his State of the Union speech

Quote:  The trouble with the world is the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubts.  –  Bertrand Russell

Jan. 30

–  birthdays:  1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt (32^nd President 1933-45)  /  1912 – Barbara Tuchman (historian –  The Guns of August)  /  1922 – Dick Martin (comedian partner of Dan Rowan of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in)  /  1930 – Gene Hackman (actor – The French Connection)  /  1941 –  Dick Cheney (George W. Bush’s Vice President) 

–  1835 –  Pres. Andrew Jackson survives assassination when both of assassin’s pistols misfire

–  1862 –  first Union ironclad, the Monitor, is launched

–  1933 –  The Lone Ranger begins its 21 year run on the radio

–  1933 –  Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany

–  1956 –  home of Martin Luther King, Jr. bombed

–  1961 –  JFK proposes the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps

–  1968 –  the Tet Offensive begins

–  1973 –  rock band Kiss plays its first show

–  1996 –  the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the leading cause of death for 25-44 year olds is AIDS

Quote:  Care and diligence bring luck.  –  Thomas Fuller

Jan. 31

–  birthdays:  1734 –  Robert Morris (signer of the Declaration of Independence)  /  Gouverneur Morris (writer of the Constitution)  /  1872 –  Zane Grey (author of Westerns –  Riders of the Purple Sage)  /  1919 –  Jackie Robinson  /  1923 –  Norman Mailer (author –  The Naked and the Dead)  /  1931 –  Ernie Banks (Baseball Hall of Famer)  /  1947 –  Nolan Ryan (baseball’s no-hitter and strike-outs leader)  /  1977 –  Kerry Washington (actress –  Scandal)  /  1981 –  Justin Timberlake (pop singer –  biggest hit =  “Can’t Stop the Feeling”)

–  1905 –  first car to break 100 mph

–  1915 –  on the Eastern Front, the Germans use poison gas for the first time

–  1917 –  the Germans announce the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare

–  1928 –  scotch tape first marketed by 3M Company

–  1943 –  the German army in Stalingrad surrenders

–  1961 –  Ham the chimp becomes the first monkey in space

–  1968 –  as part of the Tet Offensive, Viet Cong soldiers attack the U.S. Embassy in Saigon

–  1970 –  members of the rock band Grateful Dead are arrested for LSD

–  1999 –  Family Guy premieres

–  2006 –  first woman on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor, retires

Quote:  Be less curious of people and more curious of ideas.  –  Madame Curie