EVENTS
- 1791 – The United States Mint is created by the U.S. Congress.
- 1857 – France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
- 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey was played.
- 1913 – A women’s suffrage march in Washington D.C. was attacked by angry onlookers while police stood by. The march occurred the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Many of the 5,000 women participating were spat upon and struck in the face as a near riot ensued. Secretary of War Henry Stimson then ordered soldiers from Fort Myer to restore order.
- 1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time.
- 1924 – The last remnant of the Ottoman empire in Turkey is abolished. The end of the Islamic caliphate marked the demise of the 600-year old empire and gave way to the formation of a reformed Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
- 1931 – The Star Spangled Banner becomes the US National Anthem.
- 1933 – Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated.
- 1938 – The world’s fastest steam locomotive is built. The Mallard could reach a speed of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).
- 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
- 1939 – Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
- 1974 – All 345 people on board a Turkish Airlines jet die as it plunges to the ground near Paris, France. The crash of the DC-10 aircraft has the 4th highest death toll of any aviation accident in history.
- 1985 – The U.K. miners’ strike ends. The year-long dispute was the country’s longest-running industrial dispute and a defining issue of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government.
- 1991 – Footage of Los Angeles police officers severely beating Rodney King causes a global outcry. The acquittal of the police officers involved sparked the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1455 – John II (King of Portugal)
- 1831 – Railroad car builder George Pullman (1831-1897) was born in Brocton, New York
- 1840 – Chief Joseph (Chief of the Nez Perce Tribe)
- 1845 – Georg Cantor (German mathematician)
- 1847 – Alexander Graham Bell (Inventor)
- 1962 – Herschel Walker (Football Player)
- 1962 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Track and Field Athlete)
- 1869 – Henry Wood (English conductor)
- 1977 – Ronan Keating (Irish singer-songwriter, actor)
- 1981 – Julius Malema (South African politician)
- 1982 – Jessica Biel (Actress)
- 1984 – Santonio Holmes (Football player)
DEATHS
- 1703 – Robert Hooke (English scientist)
- 1706 – Johann Pachelbel (German composer)
- 1707 – Aurangzeb (Mughal emperor)
- 1983 – Hergé (Belgian illustrator)
- 1987 – Danny Kaye (American actor)