TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 22
565 Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus
1371 King Robert II of Scotland is crowned, becoming the first monarch of the House of Stewart (1371-90)
1506 The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrive at the Vatican
1666 Shah Jahan, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, died at the age of 74. He was the Mongul emperor of India that built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.
1689 England’s “Bloodless Revolution” reaches its climax when parliament invites William and Mary to become joint sovereigns.
1807 President Thomas Jefferson exposes a plot by Aaron Burr to form a new republic in the Southwest.
1879 Eighty-two British soldiers hold off attacks by 4,000 Zulu warriors at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in South Africa.
1879 James Shields (D) elected US senator from Missouri after previously serving as US senator from Illinois & Minnesota
1901 Queen Victoria of England died after reigning for 63 years (the 4th longest among longest-reigning monarchs and the longest for queens).
1905 Russian troops fire on civilians beginning Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg.
1908 Katie Mulcahey is arrested for lighting a cigarette, violating the 1-day old “Sullivan Ordinance” banning women from smoking in public, and is fined $5. Appearing before the judge she stated “I’ve got as much right to smoke as you have. I never heard of this new law, and I don’t want to hear about it. No man shall dictate to me.”
1939 A Nazi order erases the old officer caste, tying the army directly to the Party.
1950 Alger Hiss, a former adviser to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, was convicted of perjury for denying contacts with a Soviet agent. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
1957 Suspected “Mad Bomber” was arrested in Waterbury, CT. George P. Metesky was accused of planting more than 30 explosive devices in the New York City area.
1973 The U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that had been restricting abortions during the first six months of pregnancy. The case (Roe vs. Wade) legalized abortion.
1979 Abu Hassan, the alleged planner of the 1972 Munich raid, is killed by a bomb in Beirut.
1987 Pennsylvania politician R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself at a press conference on live national television, leading to debates on boundaries in journalism
1995 Two Palestinian suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip detonated powerful explosives at a military transit point in central Israel, killing 19 Israelis.
1997 The U.S. Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the first female secretary of state.
2001 Acting on a tip, authorities captured four of the “Texas 7” in Woodland Park, CO, at a convenience store. A fifth convict killed himself inside a motor home.
2002 Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
