BC 45, January 1
The Julian calendar went into effect.

AD 404, January 1
Last gladiator competition in Rome was held.

1066, January
Died: Edward III. On his death bed, he had made the mistake of naming Harold successor instead of his own grandson, Edgar the Ætheling. Nine months later, William, Duke of Normandy, decided to correct the "error" by conquering England. However, instead of installing Edgar, he anointed himself as William I (aka William the Conqueror).

1114, January 7
Twelve-year-old Empress Matilda of England is married to 32-year-old German Emperor Henry V.

1236, January 14
Henry III marries Eleanor, at Canterbury Catheral in Kent.

1327, January 25
Edward II is forced to abdicate and is replaced by his son, Edward III. Edward II is murdered in September.

1328, January 24
Edward III weds Philippa, daughter of William V, Count of Hainault & Holland.

1340, January 26
King Edward III of Engalnd is declared King of France as well.

1367, January 6
King Richard II is born at Bordeaux, Gascony.

1382, January 14
King Richard II, age 15, marries 1st wife Anne, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor & King of Bohemia.

1412, January 6
According to tradition, Joan of Arc was born on this date in Domremy, France.

1492, January 2
Reconquista: The leader of the last Arab-Muslim stronghold in Spain from the Islamic Crusade, surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

1496, January 3
In a rare personal failure, Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine.

1519, January 12
Died: Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

1521, January 3
Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

1533, January 25
Henry VIII of England married his second wife Anne Boleyn.

1540, January 6
Henry VIII of England married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, after viewing a portrait of the German princess. But she wasn't so beautiful in person and the marriage was never consummated, lasting only until July when he married his fifth wife, the adulterous Catherine Howard.

1547, January 16
Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.

1556, January 23
The deadliest earthquake in recorded history kills 830,000 people in Shanxi Province, China.

1559, January 15
England's Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1589, January 5
Died: Catherine de Medici of France, at age 69.

1606, January 31
Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed.

1610, January 7
Astronomer Galileo Galilei became the first person to sight four of Jupiter's moons.

1639, January 14
The first constitution of Connecticut -- the "Fundamental Orders" -- was adopted.

1642, January 8
Died: Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, in Italy at age 77. [Born February 15, 1564, Galileo has been referred to as the "father of modern astronomy," the "father of modern physics" and the "father of science" due to his revolutionary discoveries. The first person to use a telescope, Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, sunspots and the solar rotation.]

1649, January 30
England's King Charles I was beheaded.

1706, January 17
Born: Benjamin Franklin, in Boston.

1736, January 19
Born: James Watt, inventor of the first viable steam engine, in Scotland.

1749, January 3
Scoundrel Benning Wentworth issued the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.

1752, January 1
England and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar. However, corrected dates were not implemented until September (Sept. 2 followed by Sept. 14, see double dates). [Some other countries had switched in 1582.]

1755, January 11 (or January 11, 1757)
Born: Founding Father and first secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, on the island of Nevis in the West Indies.

1756, January 27
Born: Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Salzburg, Austria.

1759, January 6
George Washington married widow Martha Dandridge Custis.

1772, January 1
Thomas Jefferson married widow Martha Wayles Skelton.

1773, January 12
The first public museum in America was established, in Charleston, S.C.

1776, January 10
Thomas Paine published his influential pamphlet, "Common Sense."

1777, January 3
Alexander Hamilton's military leadership impresses Gen. Nathanael Greene who introduces him to Gen. Washington and the rest is history.

1777, January 3
Gen. George Washington's army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J.

1778, January 18
English navigator Capt. James Cook reached the Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the "Sandwich Islands."

1781, January 5
American Revolution: A British naval expedition led by traitor Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia.

1784, January 14
The Treaty of Paris, to end the American Revolution, was ratified by Congress.

1784, January 26
In a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the choice of an eagle as the symbol of America, and told her his preference was the turkey.

1787, January 25
Shays' Rebellion suffered a setback when debt-ridden farmers led by Capt. Daniel Shays failed to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass.

1788, January 2
Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1788, January 9
Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1788, January 18
The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony.

1788, January 26
The first European settlers in Australia, led by Capt. Arthur Phillip, landed in present-day Sydney.

1789, January 7
The first presidential election was held as Americans voted for electors who a month later chose George Washington to be the nation's first president.

1789, January 23
Georgetown College (now, Georgetown University), opened in present-day Washington, D.C., becoming the first catholic college in the U.S.

1790, January 9
Alexander Hamilton submits his First Report on the Public Credit to Congress.

1793, January 2
Russia and Prussia partitioned Poland.

1793, January 9
Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, New Jersey.

1793, January 21
During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.

1793, January 23
Showing disrespect to President Washington, Sec. of State Thomas Jefferson prods the House and Senate into passing resolutions that question the honesty of Treasury Sec. Alexander Hamilton. — The ploy didn't work; Hamilton proved the accusations were false, Washington continued to support him, and Jefferson soon resigned.

1794, January 13
President Washington approved a 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.)

1794, January 17
Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel Donelson Robards are re-married after discovering that their 1791 wedding may not have been valid.

1795, January 31
Alexander Hamilton, having submitted his last report on the public credit, resigns as Sec. of Treasury to return to private life.

1797, January 31
Born: Composer Franz Shubert, in Vienna, Austria.

1800, January 7
Born: 13th president Millard Fillmore, in Locke Township (Summerhill), NY.

1801, January 1
-- Legislative union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland was completed to form the United Kingdom.
-- First known asteriod, 1 Ceres, was discovered.

1801, January 20
John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1802, January 26
Congress passed an act calling for the establishment of a library (Library of Congress) within the U.S. Capitol.

1805, January 11
Congress created the Michigan Territory, effective, June 30, 1805.

1807, January 19
Born: Robert E. Lee, commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, in Stratford, Virginia.

1808, January 1
Taking advantage of Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, a federal law went into effect banning the importation of slaves.

1809, January 19
Born: Author Edgar Allan Poe, in Boston.

1815, January 8, 19
-- Jan. 8: Two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans.
-- Jan. 19: Jackson sent a letter to the Secretary of War describing his victory. [Jackson had not received notice of the Treaty of Ghent.]

1815, January 11
Born: Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, in Glasgow, Scotland.

1820, January 29
George III died -- blind, deaf, and mad -- at Windsor Castle, ending a reign that had spanned both the American and French revolutions.

1821, January 4
Died: 1st native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, in Emmitsburg, Md.

1821, January 8
Born: Confederate General James Longstreet, near Edgefield, South Carolina. [Longstreet became one of the most successful generals in the Confederate Army, but after the war was a target of some of his comrades, who were searching for a scapegoat.]

1823, January 3
Stephen Austin received a grant of Texas land from Mexico.

1824, January 1
James K. Polk, (later 11th U.S. president) married Sarah Childress.

1833, January 3
Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

1837, January 26
Michigan became the 26th state admitted to the Union.

1838, January 6
Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.

1838, January 12
Mormon founder Joseph Smith and his followers flee Ohio for Missouri.

1841, January 20
The island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. (It was foolishly returned to Chinese control in 1997.)

1843, January 29
Born: The 25th president, William McKinley, in Niles, Ohio.

1844, January 15
The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

1845, January 23
Congress decided that all future national elections would be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

1845, January 29
Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.

1847, January 30
San Francisco, California was named Nova Albion by Sir Francis Drake, around 1780. On July 9, 1846, Captain John B. Montgomery renamed it Yerba Buena (an alternative form of hierba buena, meaning "good herb" and referring to the local plant yerba buena of the mint family). It was renamed San Francisco, after Saint Francis of Assisi, on January 30, 1847.

1848, January 24
James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, Calif. The discovery, in Coloma, El Dorado County, along the bank of the American River, led to the gold rush of '49.

1849, January 23
Elizabeth Blackwell was awarded a medical degree from the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, to become the United State's first woman medical doctor.

1850, January 29
Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state.

1853, January 6
Franklin Pierce and his wife witness the death of their son in a train wreck on the way to Pierce's inauguration.

1853, January 19
Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premiered in Rome.

1853, January 28
Born: Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti, in Havana.

1858, January 14
French emperor Napoleon III -- third son of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland and Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of the Empress Josephine -- escaped an attempt on his life.

1858, January 25
The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn became a popular wedding recessional after it was played on this day for the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter and the Crown Prince of Prussia.

1861, January 9
-- Mississippi seceded from the Union.
-- The Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements to Federal troops at Fort Sumter, S.C., retreated after being fired on by a battery in the harbor.

1861, January 10
Florida seceded from the Union.

1861, January 11
Alabama seceded from the Union.

1861, January 19
Georgia seceded from the Union.

1861, January 21
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four other Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate.

1861, January 26
Louisiana seceded from the Union.

1861, January 29
Kansas became the 34th state admitted to the Union.

1862, January
Civil War battles in VA, WVA, MO, and KY.

1862, January 18
Died: John Tyler, the 10th U.S. president (1841-45), at his home in Virginia. [Tyler was a Confederate sympathizer and had been appointed to serve in the Confederate States Congress but died before the first meeting was held.]

1863, January
Civil War battles in TN, TX, MO, AR, and ID(Massacre).

1863, January 1
-- President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states were free.
-- The first claim under the Homestead Act was made for a farm in Nebraska.

1863, January 10
London's Metropolitan Line (the Metro), the world's first underground passenger railway, opened to the public.

1864, January
Civil War battles in TN and AL.

1864, January 13
Died: Composer Stephen Foster, in New York.

1865, January 31
Gen. Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of all the Confederate armies.

1865, January
Civil War battle: Fort Fisher (2nd), North Carolina.

1868, January 3
The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as "shoguns."

1870, January 2
Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge.

1870, January 10
John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.

1870, January 15
The Democrat party was represented as a donkey for the first time in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly.

1870, January 26
Virginia rejoined the Union.

1871, January 25
The 25th president, William McKinley, married Ida Saxton.

1874, January 1
New York City annexed The Bronx.

1876, January 12
Jack London, author and activist for Socialism, was born John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco. His most famous book, Call of the Wild, was published in 1903.

1877, January 8
Crazy Horse and his warriors fought their final losing battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.

1878, January 28
Big day in New Haven, Conn.:
-- The first commercial telephone switchboard went into operation, and
-- The first daily college newspaper, the Yale News, began publication.

1880, January 1
Construction began on the Panama Canal.

1880, January 27
Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

1881, January 25
Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell formed the Oriental Telephone Company.

1882, January 30
Born: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president, in Hyde Park, NY.

1883, January 16
The U.S. Civil Service Commission (now Office of Personnel Management) was established.

1885, January 1
The Montgolfier brothers flew a hot-air balloon across the English Channel.

1887, January 20
The U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.

1890, January 25
Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes.

1892, January 1
The Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York Harbor formally opened.

1893, January 13
Britain's Independent Labor Party (a precursor to the current Labor Party) held its first meeting.

1893, January 17
-- Died: 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes, in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.
-- Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.

1895, January 5
French Captain Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. (He was later vindicated.)

1896, January 4
Utah became the 45th state admitted to the union.

1896, January 5
The Wiener Presse of Austria first reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as X-rays.

1898, January 1
Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated under one government as New York City.

1898, January 13
Emile Zola's famous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, "J'accuse," was published in Paris.

1900, January 2
Secretary of State John Hay announced the "Open Door Policy" to facilitate trade with China.

1901, January 1
The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.

1901, January 22
Died: Queen Victoria, at age 82 after a record 63-year reign. [Elizabeth II has ruled since 1952. She must serve until age 89 in 2015 to top Victoria's record on the throne.]

1901, January 27
Died: Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, in Milan, Italy, at age 87.

1904, January 4
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the U.S. freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens.

1905, January 22
Thousands of demonstrating Russian workers were fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as "Red Sunday" or "Bloody Sunday." [According to the Old-Style Julian calendar still in effect in Russia at the time, the date was Jan. 9.]

1905, January 31
Born: Author John O'Hara, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

1908, January 1
For the first time, to signify New Years Day, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square.

1908, January 24
The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1909, January 28
The United States ended direct control over Cuba.

1912, January 6
New Mexico became the 47th state admitted to the U.S.

1912, January 18
English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reached the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it. (Scott and his party perished on the way back to their base camp.)

1913, January 9
Born: The 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, in Yorba Linda, Calif.

1913, January 11
The first sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th Automobile Show in New York.

1914, January 14
Ford Motor Company greatly improved its assembly-line operation by employing a chain to pull each chassis along.

1915, January 12
The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote. [A Constitutional Amendment was finally approved in 1920.]

1915, January 25
The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, inaugurated U.S. transcontinental telephone service.

1915, January 21
The first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.

1915, January 28
The Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.

1916, January 8
WW I: Allied forces stage a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula (Dardanelles) in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire. [The Gallipoli Campaign resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties and greatly discredited Allied military command. Roughly an equal number of Turks were killed or wounded.]

1916, January 28
Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.

1917, January 22
WW I: President Wilson pleaded for an end to war in Europe, calling for "peace without victory." (By April, however, America had entered the war.)

1917, January 25
WW I: The Danish West Indies (the U.S. Virgin Islands) were purchased by the U.S. from Denmark for $25 million. (The U.S. bought the islands out of fear that Germany might use them as a submarine base to attack American shipping.)

1917, January 31
WW I: Germany served notice it was beginning a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1918, January 8
WW I: President Wilson proposed a set of peace aims called the Fourteen Points.

1919, January
WW I: Representatives of 32 nations gathered in Paris to draw up a peace settlement to formally end the war.

1919, January 6
Died: 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, in Oyster Bay, NY, at age 60.

1919, January 18
The World War I Peace Congress opened in Versailles, France.

1920, January 10
The League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.

1920, January 16
Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution took effect. (It was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.)

1920, January 23
In the aftermath of WW I, the Dutch government refused demands from the victorious Allies to hand over the ex-kaiser of Germany.

1921, January 2
Religious services were broadcast on radio for the first time as KDKA in Pittsburg aired the regular Sunday service of the city's Calvary Episcopal Church.

1921, January 21
Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 54.

1922, January 22
Died: Pope Benedict XV; he was succeeded by Pius XI.

1924, January 21
Died: Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, at age 54.

1924, January 24
The Russian city of St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader. (It has since been changed back to St. Petersburg.)

1925, January 5
Nellie T. Ross succeeded her late husband as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in U.S. history.

1926, January 12
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll premiere their radio program Sam 'n' Henry, in which the two white performers portrayed two black characters; some consider the show the first situation comedy. It was a precursor to Gosden and Correll's more popular later program, Amos 'n' Andy.

1927, January 7
Commercial trans-Atlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.

1928, January 10
The Soviet Union ordered the exile of Leon Trotsky.

1929, January 2
The United States and Canada reached agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.

1929, January 15
Born: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in Atlanta, Georgia.

1932, January 12
Hattie W. Caraway (D-Ark.) became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1932, January 23
New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1933, January 5
Died: The 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, in Northampton, Mass., at age 60.

1933, January 30
-- The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.
-- Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.

1934, January 1
Alcatraz becomes a federal prison.

1935, January 2
Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was found guilty, and executed.)

1935, January 8
Born: Rock and Roll legend Elvis Presley, in Tupelo, Mississippi.

1935, January 11
Aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., that made her the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

1936, January 18
Died: Author Rudyard Kipling, in Burwash, England.

1936, January 20
-- George V dies after a series of debilitating attacks of bronchitis. His biographer wrote: "He discovered a new job for modern kings.... representation."
-- Edward VIII becomes king but abdicates 11 months later to marry American divorcee, Wallis Simpson.

1936, January 29
The first members of baseball's Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1937, January 20
President Roosevelt takes oath for second term in accordance with the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1933.

1938, January 3
The "March of Dimes" campaign to fight polio was organized. It was so successful that within 25 years two vaccines were available and by 1990 the disease was nearly eradicated from the earth.

1941, January 13
Died: Novelist James Joyce, in Zurich, Switzerland.

1941, January 20
President Roosevelt takes oath for third term, becoming the only person ever elected to three terms as president.

1941, January 23
Nazi admirer, Charles A. Lindbergh, testifies before Congress that the United States should negotiate a neutrality pack with Adolf Hitler.

1942, January 2
World War II: Philippine capital of Manila captured by Japanese forces.

1942, January 6
The Pan American Airways "Pacific Clipper" arrived in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1942, January 7
During World War II, the siege of Bataan began.

1942, January 11
World War II: Japan declared war against the Netherlands, the same day that Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.

1942, January 12
Requested by President Roosevelt, Congress created the National War Labor Board.

1942, January 15
Jawaharlal Nehru succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India's National Congress Party.

1942, January 20
World War II: Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Jews.

1942, January 21
Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded "One O'Clock Jump" in New York for Okeh Records.

1942, January 24
World War II: A special court of inquiry into America's lack of preparedness for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor placed much of the blame on Rear Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, the Navy and Army commanders. [Its amazing… Looks like Congress has ALWAYS blamed others for its own failures. The practice continues, right up through 9.11.01.]

1942, January 26
The first American expeditionary force to go to Europe during World War II went ashore in Northern Ireland.

1943, January 5
Died: Educator and scientist George Washington Carver, in Tuskegee, Alabama, at age 81.

1943, January 11
World War II: The United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.

1943, January 14-24
During WW II, President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco and agreed to invade the Mediterranean island of Sicily after driving the Germans and Italians from northern Africa.

1943, January 15
Work was completed on The Pentagon, now the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.

1943, January 18
-- World War II: The Soviets announced they'd broken the long Nazi siege of Leningrad.
-- World War II: A wartime ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread in the United States went into effect. [It was aimed at reducing bakeries' demand for metal replacement parts.]

1943, January 27
In World War II, some 50 bombers struck Wilhelmshaven in the first all-American air raid against Germany.

1944, January 7
Died: Lou Henry Hoover, wife of 31st president Herbert Hoover, in Palo Alto, CA.

1944, January 16
World War II: Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Invasion Force in London.

1944, January 19
World War II: The federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.

1944, January 22, 27
-- Jan. 22: World War II: Allied forces landed at Anzio, Italy.
-- Jan. 27: A Soviet offensive ended the siege of Leningrad, which had begun in September 1941.

1944, January 31
During World War II, U.S. forces began invading Kwajalein Atoll and other parts of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1945, January
-- During World War II Soviet forces finally entered Warsaw (Jan. 17) to end an uprising in which 200,000 Poles had died.
-- Soviet soldiers reached the Oder River, about 40 miles east of Berlin.
-- Allied forces opened a supply route across northern Burma to China.
-- Major General Curtis E. LeMay took command of the air war against Japan.

1945, January 6
During World War II, future president George H.W. Bush and Barbara Pierce were married in Rye, N.Y., while he was on leave from the Navy.

1945, January 9
During World War II, the American forces landed on the island of Luzon (Lingayen Gulf) and began to work their way toward Manila.

1945, January 12
World War II: Soviet forces began a huge offensive against Germans on the Eastern Front.

1945, January 17
-- World War II: Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
-- World War II: Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw.

1945, January 20
President Roosevelt takes oath for fourth term, becoming the only person ever elected to four terms as president.

1945, January 27
Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

1945, January 28
During World War II, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly re-opened Burma Road

1945, January 31
Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.

1946, January 10
The first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.

1947, January 3
Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York got to see some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.

1948, January 4
Britain granted independence to Burma.

1948, January 12
The Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.

1948, January 26
President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 ending racial segregation in the U.S. military.

1948, January 30
Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extemist.

1949, January 5
In his State of the Union address to Congress, President Truman labeled his administration the "Fair Deal."

1949, January 20
President Truman is re-inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.

1949, January 25
David Ben-Gurion was elected Prime Minister of Israel in the new nation's first national election.

1950, January 21
-- Former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in N.Y. of lying to a grand jury. (Hiss, who always maintained his innocence, served less than four years in prison.)
-- Died: George Orwell, author of "1984," in London at age 46.

1950, January 23
The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

1950, January 26
India officially proclaimed itself a republic, free from Great Britain, as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president.

1950, January 31
President Truman announced he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.

1951, January 4
Korean War: Communist forces captured the city of Seoul.

1951, January 27
An era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.

1952, January 14
NBC's "Today" show premiered, with Dave Garroway as the host, or "communicator," as he was officially known.

1953, January 1
Country music singer Hank Williams Sr., 29, died of a drug and alcohol overdose while on his way to a concert date in Canton, Ohio.

1953, January 7
President Truman announced in his State of the Union address that the United States had developed the hydrogen bomb.

1953, January 14
Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country's Parliament.

1953, January 20
Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath as the 34th president with Richard M. Nixon as his vice president.

1954, January 20
"The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," a play by Herman Wouk, opened on Broadway.

1954, January 21
The first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn.

1955, January 7
Singer Marian Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera."

1955, January 17
The nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus made its first test run from its berth in Groton, Conn.

1955, January 19
A presidential news conference was filmed for television for the first time, with permission from President Eisenhower.

1957, January 9, 10
-- Jan. 9: Anthony Eden resigned as British prime minister.
-- Jan. 10: Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Great Britain.

1957, January 20
Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated for a 2nd term with Richard M. Nixon as his vice president.

1957, January 22
Suspected "Mad Bomber" George P. Metesky, accused of planting more than 30 explosive devices in the New York City area since 1940, was arrested in Waterbury, Conn. (He was later found mentally ill and commited to a mental hospital; he was released in 1973, and died in 1994 at age 90.)

1958, January 31
The United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.

1959, January 1
Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista to establish the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere.

1959, January 3
Alaska became the 49th state admitted to the Union.

1959, January 7
The United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.

1959, January 8
France began its conversion from a democratic-republic-capitalist society to a libertine-neosocialist government when Charles De Gaulle was inaugurated as president of the Fifth Republic. [Libertine-Socialism is now deeply rooted in the French culture and has spread to Canada, Germany and Spain. The United States nearly elected Libertine-Socialist John Kerry as president in 2004. Kerry is one of about 25 Libertine-Socialist U.S. Senators who style themselves as "Progressive" Democrats because they know that the majority of Americans would reject a Libertine-Socialist president and government.]

1959, January 25
American Airlines opened the jet age in the United States with the first scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707.

1961, January 3
-- President Eisenhower ignored the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine, although he severed U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba. [Ike allowed the U.S.S.R. to colonize Cuba.]
-- The SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho leaked radiation, killing three workers. The radiation was contained within the structure.

1961, January 17
In his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."

1961, January 20
John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president with Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice president.

1961, January 25
President Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television.

1962, January 8
At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is exhibited for the first time in America.

1962, January 13
Died: Comedian Ernie Kovacs, in a car crash in west Los Angeles.

1962, January 26
The United States launched Ranger III to land scientific instruments on the moon -- but the probe missed its target by about 22,000 miles.

1962, January 30
Two members of the "Flying Wallendas" highwire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.

1963, January 14
George C. Wallace became governor of Alabama. In a speech he pledged "segregation forever."

1963, January 29
-- The first members of football's Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio.
-- Died: Poet Robert Frost, in Boston at age 88.

1964, January 8
President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty."

1964, January 9
Anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and three U.S. soldiers.

1964, January 11
U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying that smoking may be a health hazard.

1964, January 16
The musical "Hello, Dolly" opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.

1964, January 23
The 24th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, eliminating any poll tax ("or other tax") as a qualification for voting in any election for federal office.

1964, January 30
The United States launched Ranger VI, an unmanned spacecraft carrying television cameras that was to crash-land on the moon.

1965, January 2
The New York Jets signed U. of Alabama QB Joe Namath for a reported $400,000.

1965, January 4
-- President Johnson outlined the goals of his "Great Society" in his State of the Union Address.
-- Died: Poet T.S. Eliot, in London at age 76.

1965, January 20
Lyndon B. Johnson was re-inaugurated as the 36th president.

1965, January 24
Died: Sir Winston S. Churchill, in London at age 90. — [In 1963 Churchill was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States, the first person to be so honored. — In 1996 Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) was awarded Honorary Citizenship, the year before her death. Posthumous awards have been made to Raoul Wallenberg (1981); William and Hannah Callowhill Penn (1984); and Marquis de la Fayette (2002).]

1966, January 12
President Lyndon Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggresion there was ended.

1966, January 13
Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Johnson.

1966, January 19
Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.

1967, January 3
Died: Jack Ruby, the man who shot accused John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, in a Dallas hospital.

1967, January 6
U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Deckhouse V, an offensive in the Mekong River delta.

1967, January 10
Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, took his seat.

1967, January 15
In the first Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League, 35-10.

1967, January 16
Alan S. Boyd was sworn in as the first secretary of transportation.

1967, January 27
-- Astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a training exercise aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.
-- More than 60 nations signed a treaty to ban orbiting nuclear weapons.

1968, January 9
The Surveyor VII space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

1968, January 23
North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was held captive for 11 months.)

1968, January 30
During the Vietnam War, Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnam provincial capitals that became known as the Tet Offensive.

1969, January 12
In Super Bowl III, the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7.

1969, January 14
25 crew members of the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise were killed in an explosion that ripped through the ship off Hawaii.

1969, January 20
Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as the 37th president.

1970, January 5
Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found killed with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pa., home. [UMWA President Anthony Boyle and three others were convicted of the murders.]

1970, January 14
Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

1971, January 1
A ban of cigarette ads from television takes effect in the U.S.

1971, January 12
The groundbreaking comedy All in the Family debuted on CBS television.

1971, January 31
Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.

1972, January 7
Lewis F. Powell Jr. and William H. Rehnquist were sworn in as the 99th and 100th members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1972, January 9
Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake. [Irving later admitted that he had not interviewed Hughes for the bio.]

1972, January 24
-- Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier of WW II, was discovered on Guam.
-- The U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws that denied welfare benefits to people who had resided in a state for less than a year.

1972, January 30
Thirteen Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."

1973, January 11
Owners of American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.

1973, January 15
President Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

1973, January 20
-- Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated for a second term as president.
-- The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the Roe v. Wade case.

1973, January 22
-- The Supreme Court handed down its "Roe vs. Wade" decision reached two days earlier, which legalized abortion using a trimester approach.
-- Died: 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson, age 64, at his home in Texas.

1973, January 23, 27, 28
-- Jan. 23: President Nixon announced an agreement had been reached to end the Vietnam War.
-- Jan. 27: The accords were signed in Paris.
-- Jan. 28: The cease fire formally took effect.
[Actually, the signing and cease fire were charades: Nixon had decided to unilaterally withdraw and proceeded to do so. The North soon overran the South and slaughtered more than a million people, adding to the millions being murdered in Cambodia and Laos. The press looked the other way. The world said, ho hum.]

1974, January 4
President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. [On July 24, the U.S.S.C. ordered the W.H. to surrender the tapes and Nixon resigned August 9.]

1974, January 15
The situation comedy "Happy Days" premiered on ABC television.

1976, January 8
Died: Zhou Enlai, premier of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 1949, of cancer at age 77.

1976, January 15
Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Ford in San Francisco.

1976, January 21
The supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.

1977, January 11
France proudly and flagrantly displayed its anti-Semitism by releasing Abu Daoud, a PLO official behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

1977, January 17
Utah became the first state to end a decade-long U.S.S.C. moratorium on the death penalty as it put Gary Gilmore, 36, to death by firing squad.

1977, January 19
In one of his last acts of office, President Ford pardoned Tokyo Rose (Iva Toguri D'Aquino), an American who had made wartime broadcasts for Japan to de-moralize Amercan forces in the Pacific.

1977, January 20
Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president.

1977, January 21
President Carter pardoned nearly all Vietnam War draft dodgers.

1978, January 1
Relying on a faulty instrument, the pilots of Air India Flight 855 flew their Boeing 747-237 into the ocean off the coast of Bombay killing all 213 on board.

1978, January 10
The Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz capsule for a redezvous with the Salyut VI space laboratory.

1978, January 13
Died: Former V.P. Hubert H. Humphrey, in Waverly, Minn., at age 66.

1978, January 16
NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America's first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford Jr., who became America's first black astronaut in space.

1978, January 24
A nuclear-powered Soviet satellite plunged through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

1979, January 1
The United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

1979, January 7
Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, over-throwing the Khmer Rouge government.

1979, January 16
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi departed Iran for Egypt; he never returned.

1979, January 21
The Pittsburg Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl XIII.

1979, January 26
Died: Former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, in New York at age 70.

1979, January 29
President Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following establishment of diplomatic relations. [President Nixon had started the process to re-open formal relations which had broken off when China turned to communism following World War II.]

1979, January 30
The Iranian government announced that it had made a fatal decision and would allow the return to Iran of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who'd been living in exile in France.

1980, January 10
Died: Former AFL-CIO president George Meany, in Washington, D.C., at age 85.

1980, January 28
Six U.S. diplomats who had avoided capture during a takeover of the American embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats. [How soon we forget.]

1981, January 20
-- Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president, the oldest person to take office: 69 years, 349 days.
-- After 444 days of captivity, Iran released 52 hostages taken when terrorist overran the American Embassy in Tehran. The release came minutes after the presidency passed from Jimmy Carter to Reagan.

1981, January 30
An estimated 2 million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the freed American hostages from Iran.

1982, January 8
AT&T settled the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.

1982, January 13
An Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge after takeoff from Washington National Airport (now Reagan National) and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.

1982, January 28
Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued U.S. Brig. Gen. James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.

1983, January 1
The ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1984, January 1
The break-up of AT&T took place as the tele-communications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement signed in 1982.

1984, January 10
The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

1984, January 17
The U.S.S.C. ruled 5-4 that private use of home video-cassette recorders to tape tv programs did not violate federal copyright laws. [TV networks and the movie industry were trying to outlaw the sale of VCRs in the U.S.]

1985, January 20
In a White House ceremony, Ronald W. Reagan was inaugurated for a second term as president and George H.W. Bush took office for a second term as vice president. (Being Sunday, the public swearing-in was held the next day.)

1985, January 23
Debate in Britain's House of Lords appeared on live tv for the first time.

1985, January 24
The space shuttle Discovery was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the first secret, all-military shuttle mission.

1986, January 12
The shuttle Columbia (Mission STS-61-C) blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, and a sitting congressman, Bill Nelson of Florida.

1986, January 20
-- The United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
-- Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel.

1986, January 23
The first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

1986, January 28
The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral (Kennedy Space Center), killing all seven crew members.

1987, January 8
For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed above $2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25.

1987, January 25
Super Bowl XXI: The New York Giants beat the Denver Broncos 39-20.

1989, January 7
Died: Emperor Hirohito of Japan, in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.

1989, January 20
George H.W. Bush was inaugurated as the 41st president.

1989, January 23
Died: Spanish artist Salvador Dali, in Spain at age 84.

1989, January 24
Confessed serial killer Theodore "Ted" Bundy was put to death in Florida's electric chair.

1990, January 3
Ousted Panamanian leader Manual Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.

1990, January 13
L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation's first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

1991, January 16
The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Because of the time difference, it was early Jan. 17 in the Persian Gulf when the attack began.) [A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared that the "mother of all battles" had begun.]

1992, January 1
-- Boutros Boutros-Ghali succeeded Javier Perez de Cuellar as secretary-general of the United Nations.
-- George H. W. Bush becomes first U.S. President to address the Australian Parliament.

1992, January 15
The Yugoslav federation, founded in 1918, effectively collapsed as the European Community recognized the republics of Croatia and Slovenia.

1993, January 1
Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1993, January 3
President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a historic nuclear missile-reduction treaty in Moscow.

1993, January 6
-- Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie died in Englewood, N.J., at age 75.
-- Ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev died in Paris at age 54.

1993, January 20
William J. "Bill" Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd president.

1993, January 24
Died: Retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, in Bethesda, Md., at age 84.

1994, January 1
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect.

1994, January 5
Died: Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Boston at age 81.

1994, January 17
A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 61 people and causing $20 billion worth of damage.

1995, January 1
The U.S. gives away its sovereignty over foreign trade as the World Trade Organization goes into effect. [The WTO sees itself as an organization to correct perceived "wrongs" of the world and arbitrarily rules against industrial nations in favor of third-world "needs."]

1995, January 17
More than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a 7.2 magnitude devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

1995, January 20
-- The Japanese government, criticized for being slow to respond to Kobe's devastating earthquake, admitted its initial reaction might have been "confused."
-- The U.S. State Department announced a partial lifting of economic sanctions against communist North Korea in return for North Korea's commitment to cease research on a nuclear bomb. [The agreement proved to be exactly as everyone outside of the U.S. State Department expected; N.K. received the benefits and it was then discovered that the research had continued, uninterrupted.]

1995, January 23
The Supreme Court ruled that companies charged with firing employees illegally could not escape liability by later finding a lawful reason to justify the dismissal.

1995, January 26
Three weeks after Republicans had taken control of Congress, the House endorsed a balanced-budget amendment (BBA) to the Constitution designed to eliminate chronic federal deficits. [The BBA concept floated around until 9.11 and then the Republicans became as arrogant and irresponsible as the Dems had ever been. The BBA never made it out of the House.]

1995, January 29
The San Francisco 49ers became the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles, beating the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX.

1997, January 20
William J. "Bill" Clinton was inaugurated for a second term as president.

1997, January 21
Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted for the first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct.

1998, January 5
Died: Sonny Bono, the 1960's pop star-turned-politician, when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; he was 62.

1998, January 22
Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty in Sacramento, Calif., to being the Unabomber in return for a life sentence in prison without parole.

1998, January 25
Super Bowl XXXII: The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers 31-24.

1999, January 1
The Euro currency was introduced.

1999, January 7
For the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate. President 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. Mainstream Washington Democrats still insist that his impeachment was purely political.]

2000, January 3
The last Peanuts comic strip was created by terminally ill Charles Schulz who died six weeks later.

2000, January 11
Reversing the trend toward a pure federalist system, the U.S.S.C. ruled 5-4 that state employees must exhaust remedies under state law before filing age bias cases in federal court.

2000, January 12
The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed police authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of police officers. [This rule should apply to those who flee from (or avoid) voting places at the sight of police officers.]

2000, January 20
Despite an effort from President Clinton to gain advantage for Democrats by using statistical sampling (ACE) in lieu of actual counts (the U.S.S.C. said no!), Census 2000 officially got under way as Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt knocked on the door of a small wood-frame house in Unalakleet, Alaska, to begin the nationwide head count.

2001, January 20
George W. Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd president.

2002, January 1
The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.

2002, January 13
The off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks" was performed for the last time, ending a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 shows.

2002, January 23
John Walker Lindh, a.k.a., "Jihad Johnny," returns to the U.S. in FBI custody.

2003, January 24
The new Department of Homeland Security officially opened as its head, Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania, was sworn in.

2004, January 11
Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean had to defend his record on race in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses, as he was forced to acknowledge that no blacks or Hispanics had served in his cabinet during his 12 years as governor of Vermont.

2004, January 25
NASA's Mar's rover, Opportunity, zipped its first closeup pictures to Earth showing a surface smooth and dark red in some places, and strewn with fragmented slabs of light bedrock in others.

2004, January 28
Died: Former U.S. Navy hero, commander Lloyd "Pete" Bucher, in Poway, Calif., at 76. In 1968, Bucher and his crew were captured by North Koreans in international waters. He helped his USS Pueblo crew survive brutal captivity in North Korea, then faced criticism back home.

2005, January 20
The 43rd president, George W. Bush, was inaugurated for a second term.

2005, January 23
Died: Johnny Carson, host of NBC's The Tonight Show for 30 years (1962-1992), in Calif. at age 79.

2005, January 26
Condoleezza Rice, Ph.D. (nickname, Condi Rice), became the 66th U.S. Secretary of State. She is the first African American woman, the second African American (after Colin Powell), and the second woman (after Madeleine Albright) to serve in that post.