TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 23
971 War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war elephant corps in Chinese army
1368 In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
1556 The deadliest earthquake on record killed 830,000 in Shansi, China.
1789 Georgetown University established in what is now Washington, DC.
1845 The U.S. Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
1913 The “Young Turks” revolt because they are angered by the concessions made at the London peace talks.
1933 The 20th Amendment to the US Constitution Is Ratified which establishes the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal officials.
1948 The Soviets refuse UN entry into North Korea to administer elections.
1849 English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive medical degree. It was from the Medical Institution of Geneva, NY.
1907 Charles Curtis, of Kansas, began serving in the United States Senate. He was the first American Indian to become a U.S. Senator. He resigned in March of 1929 to become U.S. President Herbert Hoover’s Vice President.
1950 Jerusalem becomes the official capital of Israel.
1951 President Truman creates the Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights, to monitor the anti-Communist campaign.
1957 Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company
1961 Luxury Portuguese cruise liner Santa Maria is hijacked by a terrorists leftist rebel group who had boarded in Venezuela and Curacao led by Henrique Galvão
1964 The 24th Amendment to the Constitution, barring poll taxes, was ratified.
1968 North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo (the crew was released 11 months later.)
1973 President Richard Nixon claims that Vietnam peace has been reached in Paris and that the POWs would be home in 60 days.
1977 Alex Haley’s Roots begins a record-breaking eight-night broadcast on ABC.
1978 Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth’s ozone layer.
1986 The first artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Among the first inductees were Ray Charles, James Brown, and Elvis Presley.
1997 A judge in Fairfax, VA, sentenced Mir Aimal Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside the CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two men and wounded three other people.
2001 Five protesters set themselves on fire by pouring gasoline on themselves and setting light to themselves in Tiananmen Square recorded by CNN camera men ( Tapes are confiscated ) and Police with fire-extinguishers quickly put out the flames.
2002 Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.
2002 John Walker Lindh returned to the U.S. under FBI custody. Lindh was charge with conspiring to kill U.S. citizens, providing support to terrorists and engaging in prohibited transactions with the Taliban while a member of the al-Quaida terrorist organization in Afghanistan.
2003 North Korea announced that it would consider sanctions an act of war for North Korea’s reinstatement of its nuclear program.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
