TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 25
1533 Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn.
1787 Small farmers in Springfield, Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays, revolt against tax laws. Federal troops break up the protesters of what becomes known as Shay’s Rebellion.
1799 Eliakim Spooner patented the seeding machine.
1840 American naval expedition under Charles Wilkes is first to identify Antarctica as a new continent
1846 The dreaded Corn Laws, which taxed imported oats, wheat and barley, are repealed by the British Parliament.
1858 Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” was presented for the first time at the wedding of the daughter of Queen Victoria and the Crown Prince of Prussia.
1890 United Mine Workers of America was founded.
1904 Two-hundred coal miners are trapped in their Pennsylvania mine after an explosion.
1918 Austria and Germany reject U.S. peace proposals.
1919 The League of Nations plan is adopted by the Allies.
1930 New York police rout a Communist rally at the Town Hall.
1942 Thailand declared war against the United States, England, and other World War II allied forces on this day.
1947 The first arcade game is patented Thomas Goldsmith’s “Cathode ray tube amusement device” is considered the ancestor of video games.
1949 Axis Sally, who broadcasted Nazi propaganda to U.S. troops in Europe, stands trial in the United States for war crimes.
1949 1st Israeli election won by David Ben-Gurion’s Mapai party
1955 Columbia University scientists develop an atomic clock that is accurate to within one second in 300 years.
1960 The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal ( The Payola scandal was about bribes being paid to Disc Jockeys to play specific songs to increase music sales without informing the public they were being paid for ) by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.
1971 Military coup in Uganda under Major General Idi Amin
1971 Charles Manson was found guilty of murdering Sharon Tate and six others.
1972 Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to U.S. Congress, announces candidacy for president.
1972 Nixon airs the eight-point peace plan for Vietnam, asking for POW release in return for withdrawal.
1977 The world’s first solar power plant is opened. The solar furnace in Odeillo, France was the first power plant providing alternative energy.
1981 The 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States and were reunited with their families.
1984 President Reagan endorses the development of the first U.S. permanently-manned space station.
2005 Over 300 die in a stampede at the Mandher Devi Temple in India during the annual Kalubai Jatra pilgrimage the first full moon day in January when animal sacrifices to the goddess Kalubai are made.
2005 The BTK killer sends a postcard to a Wichita Kansas TV Station that leads police to discover a Post Toasties cereal box that had been altered to contain the letters BTK. A month later, on February 25, Dennis Lynn Rader, a husband and father of two was taken into police custody and confessed to 10 counts of murder and being the BTK killer.
2008 The California Supreme Court ruled that employers in the state can fire workers found to have used medical marijuana legally recommended by doctors.
2008 President Bush and House leaders agree to a $150 billion stimulus package, including rebates for most tax filers of up to $600 for individuals, $1,200 for couples and, for families, an additional $300 a child. The checks from the IRS begin arriving for American Taxpayers in May.
2010 The California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has suggested that the state can reduce its prison spending by housing undocumented inmates in Mexican jails.
2011 Egyptian Revolution of 2011 begins with a series of street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, labor strikes and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities
2011 Noshir Gowadia, an Indian-born engineer in the United States was sentenced to thirty-two years in prison after being found guilty of selling United States military secrets to China.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
