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Post by dreamer on Jan 26, 2012 6:21:40 GMT -5
Jan. 26thAmerican Revolution Engagement at Burke County Jail, 1779 Automotive "The Dukes of Hazzard" premieres, 1979 Civil War Joseph Hooker takes over the Army of the Potomac, 1863 Cold War U.S. Olympic Committee votes against Moscow games, 1980 Crime First Australian penal colony established, 1788 So-called Mad Butcher terrorizes Cleveland, 1936 Disaster Cyclone Wanda causes flooding in Australia, 1974 General Interest Pinzon discovers Brazil, 1500 Australia Day, 1788 Tennessee passes nation's first prohibition law, 1838 Franco captures Barcelona, 1939 Republic of India born, 1950 Hollywood Sam Goldwyn buys rights to The Wizard of Oz, 1934 Literary Oprah Winfrey takes James Frey to task for lying, 2006 Music "The Twist" ends record-setting run, 1962 Old West Pinkertons maim Frank and Jesse James' mother, 1875 Presidential Kennedy appoints first female presidential physician, 1961 Bush appoints Rice as secretary of state, 2005 Sports Bears beat Patriots in Super Bowl XX, 1986 Vietnam War POW spends 2,000th day in captivity, 1970 North Vietnam rejects U.S. peace proposal, 1972 World War I Ukraine declares its independence, 1918 World War II Audie Murphy wounded, 1945 Soviets liberate Auschwitz, 1945 ******************** 1788: Australia DayOn January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare. Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts. With little idea of what he could expect from the mysterious and distant land, Phillip had great difficulty assembling the fleet that was to make the journey. His requests for more experienced farmers to assist the penal colony were repeatedly denied, and he was both poorly funded and outfitted. Nonetheless, accompanied by a small contingent of Marines and other officers, Phillip led his 1,000-strong party, of whom more than 700 were convicts, around Africa to the eastern side of Australia. In all, the voyage lasted eight months, claiming the deaths of some 30 men. The first years of settlement were nearly disastrous. Cursed with poor soil, an unfamiliar climate and workers who were ignorant of farming, Phillip had great difficulty keeping the men alive. The colony was on the verge of outright starvation for several years, and the marines sent to keep order were not up to the task. Phillip, who proved to be a tough but fair-minded leader, persevered by appointing convicts to positions of responsibility and oversight. Floggings and hangings were commonplace, but so was egalitarianism. As Phillip said before leaving England: "In a new country there will be no slavery and hence no slaves." Though Phillip returned to England in 1792, the colony became prosperous by the turn of the 19th century. Feeling a new sense of patriotism, the men began to rally around January 26 as their founding day. Historian Manning Clarke noted that in 1808 the men observed the "anniversary of the foundation of the colony" with "drinking and merriment." Finally, in 1818, January 26 became an official holiday, marking the 30th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. And, as Australia became a sovereign nation, it became the national holiday known as Australia Day. Today, Australia Day serves both as a day of celebration for the founding of the white British settlement, and as a day of mourning for the Aborigines who were slowly dispossessed of their land as white colonization spread across the continent. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Jan 27, 2012 4:23:02 GMT -5
Jan. 27th American Revolution Georgia incorporates the first state university, 1785 Automotive Shelby GT 350 debuts, 1965 Civil War President Lincoln orders armies to advance, 1862 Cold War U.S. officially ends participation in a Cold War conflict, 1973 Crime The so-called Dracula killer, 1978 Disaster Explosions trigger deadly panic in Nigeria, 2002 General Interest National Geographic Society founded, 1888 Baird demonstrates TV, 1926 Astronauts die in launch pad fire, 1967 Senate investigation of FBI and CIA activities begins, 1975 Somali dictator flees, 1991 Hollywood Thirteen-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes nominated for Best Actress Oscar, 2004 Literary Dante is exiled from Florence, 1302 "The Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger dies, 2010 Music John Lennon writes and records "Instant Karma" in a single day, 1970 Old West First atomic detonation at the Nevada test site, 1951 Presidential Reagan serves in film unit, 1943 Sports Monica Seles wins first Grand Slam title since being attacked, 1996 Vietnam War Donald Evans earns Medal of Honor, 1967 Paris Peace Accords signed, 1973 World War I Workers prepare to strike in Germany, 1918 World War II Americans bomb Germans for first time, 1943 Siege of Leningrad is lifted, 1944 ******************** 1888: National Geographic Society foundedOn January 27, 1888, the National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C., for "the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." The 33 men who originally met and formed the National Geographic Society were a diverse group of geographers, explorers, teachers, lawyers, cartographers, military officers and financiers. All shared an interest in scientific and geographical knowledge, as well as an opinion that in a time of discovery, invention, change and mass communication, Americans were becoming more curious about the world around them. With this in mind, the men drafted a constitution and elected as the Society's president a lawyer and philanthropist named Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Neither a scientist nor a geographer, Hubbard represented the Society's desire to reach out to the layman. Nine months after its inception, the Society published its first issue of National Geographic magazine. Readership did not grow, however, until Gilbert H. Grosvenor took over as editor in 1899. In only a few years, Grosvenor boosted circulation from 1,000 to 2 million by discarding the magazine's format of short, overly technical articles for articles of general interest accompanied by photographs. National Geographic quickly became known for its stunning and pioneering photography, being the first to print natural-color photos of sky, sea and the North and South Poles. The Society used its revenues from the magazine to sponsor expeditions and research projects that furthered humanity's understanding of natural phenomena. In this role, the National Geographic Society has been instrumental in making possible some of the great achievements in exploration and science. To date, it has given out more than 1,400 grants, funding that helped Robert Peary journey to the North Pole, Richard Byrd fly over the South Pole, Jacques Cousteau delve into the sea and Jane Goodall observe wild chimpanzees, among many other projects. Today, the National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions. National Geographic continues to sell as a glossy monthly, with a circulation of around 9 million. The Society also sees itself as a guardian of the planet's natural resources, and in this capacity, focuses on ways to broaden its reach and educate its readers about the unique relationship that humans have with the earth. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Jan 28, 2012 5:48:09 GMT -5
Jan. 28th American Revolution British plan to isolate New England, 1777 Automotive "Shuttin' Detroit Down" debuts, 2009 Civil War Confederate General Thomas Hindman is born, 1828 Cold War Soviets shoot down U.S. jet, 1964 Crime Killer couple strikes the heartland, 1958 Disaster Challenger explodes after liftoff, 1986 General Interest U.S. ends search for Pancho Villa, 1917 Challenger explodes, 1986 Afrikaner police admit to killing Stephen Biko, 1997 Hollywood Clint Eastwood honored by Directors Guild of America, 2006 Literary Colette is born, 1873 Music American recording artists gather to record "We Are the World", 1985 Old West First train crosses the Panamanian isthmus, 1855 Presidential Wilson nominates Brandeis to the Supreme Court, 1916 Sports Vince Lombardi hired as Packers coach, 1959 Vietnam War Cease-fire goes into effect, 1973 Ford asks for additional aid, 1975 World War I Germans sink American merchant ship, 1915 World War II Burma Road is reopened, 1945 ******************** 1986: Challenger explodesAt 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger. She underwent months of shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait six long days as the Challenger's launch countdown was repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January 28, the shuttle lifted off. Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa's family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors. In 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the world's first reusable manned spacecraft, the Enterprise. Five years later, space flights of the shuttle began when Columbia traveled into space on a 54-hour mission. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and an external tank, only the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth. When the mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider. Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments. The Challenger disaster was the first major shuttle accident. In the aftermath of the explosion, President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to develop future corrective measures. The presidential commission was headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, and included former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager. The investigation determined that the explosion was caused by the failure of an "O-ring" seal in one of the two solid-fuel rockets. The elastic O-ring did not respond as expected because of the cold temperature at launch time, which began a chain of events that resulted in the massive explosion. As a result of the explosion, NASA did not send astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of features of the space shuttle. In September 1988, space shuttle flights resumed with the successful launching of the Discovery. Since then, the space shuttle has carried out numerous important missions, such as the repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction of the International Space Station. On February 1, 2003, a second space-shuttle disaster rocked the United States when Columbia disintegrated upon reentry of the Earth's atmosphere. All aboard were killed. Despite fears that the problems that downed Columbia had not been satisfactorily addressed, space-shuttle flights resumed on July 26, 2005, when Discovery was again put into orbit. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Jan 29, 2012 14:11:58 GMT -5
Jan. 29th American Revolution Americans retreat from Fort Independence, 1777 Automotive William McKinley, first U.S. president to ride in a car, is born, 1843 Civil War Kansas enters the Union as a free state, 1861 Cold War Dr. Strangelove premieres, 1964 Crime School shooting in San Diego, 1979 Disaster Theater collapses in Washington, D.C., 1922 General Interest King George III dies, 1820 Divided Kansas enters the Union, 1861 Liliuokalani proclaimed queen of Hawaii, 1891 U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elects first members, 1936 Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter sign accords, 1979 Hollywood Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward marry, 1958 Literary "The Raven" is published, 1845 Music Peter, Paul and Mary sign their first recording contract, 1962 Old West Edward Abbey is born, 1927 Presidential Jackson sends troops to put down labor riot, 1834 William McKinley is born, 1843 George W. Bush makes "Axis of Evil" speech, 2002 Sports Baseball Hall of Fame inducts first members, 1936 Vietnam War President Johnson requests additional funds, 1968 Fighting continues in South Vietnam, 1974 World War I German lieutenant Erwin Rommel leads daring mission in France, 1915 World War II Iran signs Treaty of Alliance with Great Britain and USSR, 1942 ******************** 1936: U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elects first membersOn January 29, 1936, the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elects its first members in Cooperstown, New York: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson. The Hall of Fame actually had its beginnings in 1935, when plans were made to build a museum devoted to baseball and its 100-year history. A private organization based in Cooperstown called the Clark Foundation thought that establishing the Baseball Hall of Fame in their city would help to reinvigorate the area's Depression-ravaged economy by attracting tourists. To help sell the idea, the foundation advanced the idea that U.S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown. The story proved to be phony, but baseball officials, eager to capitalize on the marketing and publicity potential of a museum to honor the game's greats, gave their support to the project anyway. In preparation for the dedication of the Hall of Fame in 1939--thought by many to be the centennial of baseball--the Baseball Writers' Association of America chose the five greatest superstars of the game as the first class to be inducted: Ty Cobb was the most productive hitter in history; Babe Ruth was both an ace pitcher and the greatest home-run hitter to play the game; Honus Wagner was a versatile star shortstop and batting champion; Christy Matthewson had more wins than any pitcher in National League history; and Walter Johnson was considered one of the most powerful pitchers to ever have taken the mound. Today, with approximately 350,000 visitors per year, the Hall of Fame continues to be the hub of all things baseball. It has elected 278 individuals, in all, including 225 players, 17 managers, 8 umpires and 28 executives and pioneers. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Jan 30, 2012 6:43:08 GMT -5
Jan. 30thAmerican Revolution Maryland finally ratifies Articles of Confederation, 1781 Automotive Japan's Mazda founded, 1920 Civil War Union General Nathaniel Banks is born, 1816 Cold War Tet Offensive shakes Cold War confidence, 1968 Crime Gandhi sssassinated in New Delhi, 1948 Disaster Plane crashes off Ivory Coast, 2000 General Interest King Charles I executed for treason, 1649 Shots fired in the House of Representatives, 1835 Burma supply route cleared, 1945 Gandhi assassinated, 1948 Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland, 1972 Hollywood Gene Hackman born, 1930 Literary Michael Dorris is born, 1945 Music Sidney Bechet's first record, 1923 Old West The Lone Ranger debuts on Detroit radio, 1933 Presidential Andrew Jackson narrowly escapes assassination, 1835 FDR is born, 1882 Sports Dan Jansen skates world-record 500 meters, 1994 Vietnam War Tet Offensive begins, 1968 Operation Dewey Canyon II begins, 1971 World War I Adolf Hitler is named chancellor of Germany, 1933 World War II RAF launches massive daytime raid on Berlin, 1943 ******************** 1948: Gandhi assassinatedMohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, is assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic. Born the son of an Indian official in 1869, Gandhi's Vaishnava mother was deeply religious and early on exposed her son to Jainism, a morally rigorous Indian religion that advocated nonviolence. Gandhi was an unremarkable student but in 1888 was given an opportunity to study law in England. In 1891, he returned to India, but failing to find regular legal work he accepted in 1893 a one-year contract in South Africa. Settling in Natal, he was subjected to racism and South African laws that restricted the rights of Indian laborers. Gandhi later recalled one such incident, in which he was removed from a first-class railway compartment and thrown off a train, as his moment of truth. From thereon, he decided to fight injustice and defend his rights as an Indian and a man. When his contract expired, he spontaneously decided to remain in South Africa and launched a campaign against legislation that would deprive Indians of the right to vote. He formed the Natal Indian Congress and drew international attention to the plight of Indians in South Africa. In 1906, the Transvaal government sought to further restrict the rights of Indians, and Gandhi organized his first campaign of satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience. After seven years of protest, he negotiated a compromise agreement with the South African government. In 1914, Gandhi returned to India and lived a life of abstinence and spirituality on the periphery of Indian politics. He supported Britain in the First World War but in 1919 launched a new satyagraha in protest of Britain's mandatory military draft of Indians. Hundreds of thousands answered his call to protest, and by 1920 he was leader of the Indian movement for independence. He reorganized the Indian National Congress as a political force and launched a massive boycott of British goods, services, and institutions in India. Then, in 1922, he abruptly called off the satyagraha when violence erupted. One month later, he was arrested by the British authorities for sedition, found guilty, and imprisoned. After his release in 1924, he led an extended fast in protest of Hindu-Muslim violence. In 1928, he returned to national politics when he demanded dominion status for India and in 1930 launched a mass protest against the British salt tax, which hurt India's poor. In his most famous campaign of civil disobedience, Gandhi and his followers marched to the Arabian Sea, where they made their own salt by evaporating sea water. The march, which resulted in the arrest of Gandhi and 60,000 others, earned new international respect and support for the leader and his movement. In 1931, Gandhi was released to attend the Round Table Conference on India in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The meeting was a great disappointment, and after his return to India he was again imprisoned. While in jail, he led another fast in protest of the British government's treatment of the "untouchables"--the impoverished and degraded Indians who occupied the lowest tiers of the caste system. In 1934, he left the Indian Congress Party to work for the economic development of India's many poor. His protege, Jawaharlal Nehru, was named leader of the party in his place. With the outbreak of World War II, Gandhi returned to politics and called for Indian cooperation with the British war effort in exchange for independence. Britain refused and sought to divide India by supporting conservative Hindu and Muslim groups. In response, Gandhi launched the "Quit India" movement it 1942, which called for a total British withdrawal. Gandhi and other nationalist leaders were imprisoned until 1944. In 1945, a new government came to power in Britain, and negotiations for India's independence began. Gandhi sought a unified India, but the Muslim League, which had grown in influence during the war, disagreed. After protracted talks, Britain agreed to create the two new independent states of India and Pakistan on August 15, 1947. Gandhi was greatly distressed by the partition, and bloody violence soon broke out between Hindus and Muslims in India. In an effort to end India's religious strife, he resorted to fasts and visits to the troubled areas. He was on one such vigil in New Delhi when Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist who objected to Gandhi's tolerance for the Muslims, fatally shot him. Known as Mahatma, or "the great soul," during his lifetime, Gandhi's persuasive methods of civil disobedience influenced leaders of civil rights movements around the world, especially Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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Post by dreamer on Jan 31, 2012 6:44:29 GMT -5
Jan. 31stAmerican Revolution Gouverneur Morris is born, 1752 Automotive Cars.com names most memorable TV cars, 2007 Civil War House passes the 13th Amendment, 1865 Cold War First McDonald's opens in Soviet Union, 1990 Crime The McMartin Preschool trials, 1990 Disaster Flood wreaks havoc in Europe, 1953 General Interest The death of Guy Fawkes, 1606 Germany resumes submarine warfare, 1917 Truman announces development of H-bomb, 1950 Viet Cong attack U.S. Embassy, 1968 Apollo 14 departs for the moon, 1971 Hollywood Samuel Goldwyn dies, 1974 Literary Norman Mailer is born, 1923 Music American composer Phillip Glass is born, 1937 Old West Author Zane Grey is born, 1872 Presidential Clinton authorizes loan to Mexico, 1995 Sports Doug Williams leads Redskins to Super Bowl victory, 1988 Vietnam War Viet Cong attack U.S. Embassy, 1968 North Vietnam presents nine-point peace proposal, 1972 World War I Germans unleash U-boats, 1917 World War II The execution of Pvt. Slovik, 1945 ******************** 1950: Truman announces development of H-bombU.S. President Harry S. Truman publicly announces his decision to support the development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Five months earlier, the United States had lost its nuclear supremacy when the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb at their test site in Kazakhstan. Then, several weeks after that, British and U.S. intelligence came to the staggering conclusion that German-born Klaus Fuchs, a top-ranking scientist in the U.S. nuclear program, was a spy for the Soviet Union. These two events, and the fact that the Soviets now knew everything that the Americans did about how to build a hydrogen bomb, led Truman to approve massive funding for the superpower race to complete the world's first "superbomb," as he described it in his public announcement on January 31. On November 1, 1952, the United States successfully detonated "Mike," the world's first hydrogen bomb, on the Elugelab Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands. The 10.4-megaton thermonuclear device, built upon the Teller-Ulam principles of staged radiation implosion, instantly vaporized an entire island and left behind a crater more than a mile wide. The incredible explosive force of Mike was also apparent from the sheer magnitude of its mushroom cloud--within 90 seconds the mushroom cloud climbed to 57,000 feet and entered the stratosphere. One minute later, it reached 108,000 feet, eventually stabilizing at a ceiling of 120,000 feet. Half an hour after the test, the mushroom stretched 60 miles across, with the base of the head joining the stem at 45,000 feet. Three years later, on November 22, 1955, the Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb on the same principle of radiation implosion. Both superpowers were now in possession of the "hell bomb," as it was known by many Americans, and the world lived under the threat of thermonuclear war for the first time in history. www.history.com/this-day-in-history
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