TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 15
588 BC Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah’s reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.
0708 Sisinnius begins his reign as Catholic Pope (dies 20 days later)
1535 Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church in England
1559 Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1624 Riots flare in Mexico when it is announced that all churches are to be closed.
1777 The Republic of New Connecticut declared its independence. Six months later it was renamed Vermont.
1811 In a secret session, Congress plans to annex Spanish East Florida.
1844 U of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana
1861 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis
1870 Donkey 1st used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper’s Weekly
1902 Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh and takes the city, marking the beginning of the Third Saudi State
1913 The first telephone line between Berlin and New York is inaugurated.
1919 Peasants in Central Russia rise against the Bolsheviks.
1920 The Dry Law goes into effect in the United States. Selling liquor and beer becomes illegal.
1920 The United States approves a $150 million loan to Poland, Austria and Armenia to aid in their war with the Russian communists.
1929 The U.S. Senate ratifies the Kellogg-Briand anti-war pact.
1951 Ilse Koch ( Witch of Buchenwald ) was tried for crimes against humanity at Nuremberg and sentenced to life in prison . She committed suicide in 1967 by hanging herself with a bedsheet.
1951 Supreme Court rule “clear & present danger” of incitement to riot is not protected speech & can be a cause for arrest
1967 Super Bowl I Green Bay Packers beat Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10 in Los Angeles; Super Bowl MVP Bart Starr, Green Bay, Quarterback
1970 Muammar al-Qaddafi became Premier of Libya. He was the man who had deposed (removed from office) King Idris in 1969
1973 US President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action by US troops in Vietnam.
1973 Four of six remaining Watergate defendants plead guilty.
1975 President Gerald Ford on his very first state of the union address painted a grim portrait of America’s economic woes. Millions of Americans are out of work. Recession and inflation are eroding the money of millions more. Prices are too high and sales are too low.
1976 Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life in prison for her failed attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.
1991 UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw its forces from occupied Kuwait passes, setting the stage for Operation Desert Storm.
1993 Top mafia leader Salvatore “Totò” Riina arrested in Palermo
1997 Princess Diana angers defense ministers around the world after calling for an immediate international ban on land mines during a visit to Angola.
2001 Wikipedia goes online
2008 After six years of study, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats and their offspring is safe and does not need to be labelled as derived from cloned animals.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
