1974 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.
0366 – Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
0533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
1492 – The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.
1570 – Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins
1602 – Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale
1757 – The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India
1759 – In Montreal, French Intendant Bigot cuts the bread ration in New France to half a pound per person per day
1788 – Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War
1811 – US Senator Thomas Pickering is first senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US)
1842 – In Fairmount, PA, the first wire suspension bridge was opened to traffic.
1860 – Urban Le Verrier announces the discovery of the planet Vulcan, Despite a thorough search, the planet was never actually sighted.
1872 – Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested on a charge of bigamy. He had 25 wives.
1879 – Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator.
1882 – The Standard Oil Trust agreement was completed and dated. The document transferred the stock and property of more than 40 companies into the control of nine trustees lead by John D. Rockefeller. This was the first example of what became known as a holding company.
1890 – Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.
1900 – U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China.
1903 – President T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola MI, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black
1905 – The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms
1910 – The first junior high school in the United States opened. McKinley School in Berkeley, CA, housed seventh and eighth grade students. In a separate building students were housed who attended grades 9-12.
1917 – Royal Bank of Canada took over the Quebec Bank.
1920 – 10,000 US union & socialist organizers arrested (Palmer Raids)
1921 – The first religious broadcast on radio was heard on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, PA, as Dr. E.J. Van Etten of Calvary Episcopal Church preached.
1929 – The United States and Canada reached an agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.
1934 – First state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania
1935 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann went on trial for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindberghs baby. Hauptmann was found guilt and executed.
1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
1942 – The Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.
1946 – Unable to resume rule after World War II, King Zog of Albania abdicates but retains his claim to the throne.
1947 – Mahatma Gandhi begins march for peace in East-Bengali
1955 – Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated.
1959 – USSR launches Mechta (Luna 1) for first lunar fly-by, first solar orbit
1965 – “Broadway” Joe Namath signed the richest rookie contract ($400,000) in the history of pro football.
1968 – Fidel Castro announced petroleum and sugar rationing in Cuba.
1969 – FLQ bombs are discovered in Ottawa.
1971 – In the U.S., a federally imposed ban on television cigarette advertisements went into effect.
1974 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.
1975 – US Department of Interior designates grizzly bear a threatened species
1979 – Sid Vicious’ trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spingen begins
1981 – The “Yorkshire Ripper” is caught, Peter Sutcliffe confessed to murdering 13 women and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
1984 – Riot in Tunis kills over 100
1985 – Egyptian President Mubarak re-appoints Coptic pope Shenuda III
1988 – Ashland Oil storage tank spills 3.8 million gallons, Pennsylvania
1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC. She was the first black woman to head a city of that size and prominence.
1996 – AT&T announced that it would eliminate 40,000 jobs over three years.
1998 – Russia began circulating new rubles in effort to keep inflation in check and promote confidence.
2004 – NASA’s Stardust space probe collected samples from the comet Wild 2. The samples returned to Earth on January 15, 2006.
2008 – The price of oil hit $100 per barrell for the first time.
2014 – Raúl Castro gives a speech commemorating the 55th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and warns of “neo-liberal and neo-colonial thinking” entering the country
2016 – Saudi Arabia executes 47 alleged terrorists, including Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr
2017 – US House Republicans vote to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, a public uproar forces them to back down the next day
2021 – US President Donald Trump says to Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” in recording released by the Washington Post
2022 – Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigns in a televised address amid political deadlock after a rejection of his deal with the military by pro-democracy forces
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
