TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – Jan 2
366 The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire
1492 Catholic forces under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella take the town of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain.
1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible’s march to Novgorod begins
1788 Georgia was admitted to the Union as the 4th state.
1811 US Senator Thomas Pickering is 1st senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US)
1839 Photography pioneer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the moon.
1860 Urban Le Verrier announces the discovery of the planet Vulcan Despite a thorough search, the planet was never actually sighted
1903 President Theodore Roosevelt closes a post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to hire a Black postmistress.
1904 U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
1905 After a six-month siege, Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese.
1923 The African-American town of Rosewood, Fla., was burned by a white mob.
1929 US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls
1934 1st state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania
1935 The Bruno R. Hauptmann trial began for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby.
1936 In Berlin, Nazi officials claim that their treatment of Jews is not the business of the League of Nations.
1949 KDKA TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 The first spacecraft to fly by the Moon and also to orbit the Sun, Mechta (Luna 1) was launched by the USSR.
1963 In Vietnam, the Viet Cong down five U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta. 30 Americans are reported dead.
1967 Ronald Reagan is sworn in as Governor of California
1973 The United States admits the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.
1974 55 MPH speed limit imposed by Richard Nixon
1979 Sid Vicious’ trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spingen begins
1980 President Jimmy Carter asks the U.S. Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet action in Afghanistan.
1988 Ashland Oil storage tank spills 3.8 million gallons, Pennsylvania
1988 Mulroney & Reagan sign Canada-US free trade agreement
2006 A coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia, kills 12 miners and critically injures another. This accident and another within weeks lead to the first changes in federal mining laws in decades.
** history.net, onthisday.com, factmonster.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
