TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 31
1606 Guy Fawkes is hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up Parliament.
1620 Virginia colony leaders write to the Virginia Company in England, asking for more orphaned apprentices for employment.
1747 The first clinic specializing in the treatment of venereal diseases was opened at London Dock Hospital.
1835 A man with two pistols misfires at President Andrew Jackson at the White House.
1865 House of Representatives approves a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.
1865 General Robert E Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies during US Civil War
1876 All Native American Indians were ordered to move into reservations.
1911 The German Reichstag exempts royal families from tax obligations.
1915 Germans use poison gas on the Russians at Bolimov.
1929 The USSR exiled Leon Trotsky. He found asylum in Mexico.
1940 The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for $22.54.
1942 No longer were civilian vehicles made as of this date by companies such as Chevrolet or DeSoto. From this time on until the end of the war only military vehicles were produced.
1945 Private Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad near the village of Ste-Marie aux Mines, France after being court martial for desertion to avoid hazardous duty and became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
1950 US President Harry Truman publicly announces support for the development of a hydrogen bomb
1961 Ham the Chimp travels into outer space The chimpanzee survived the US Mercury Program test flight with just a bruised nose.
1968 In Vietnam, the Tet Offensive begins as Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers attack strategic and civilian locations throughout South Vietnam.
1985 The final Jeep rolled off the assembly line at the AMC plant in Toledo, OH.
1985 South African President PW Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
1995 Following the devaluation of the Mexican to an all-time low, President Clinton exercised his executive power to authorize the Treasury Department to issue a $20 billion loan through the Exchange Stabilization Fund. This was the first time the fund had been used to help stabilize a foreign currency.
1996 In Columbo, Sri Lanka, a truck was rammed into the gates of the Central Bank. The truck filled with explosives killed at least 86 and injured 1,400.
2001 A Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that occurred in 1988.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
