more events on January 3
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2000
The last original weekday Peanuts comic strip is published after a 50-year run, following the death of the strip’s creator, Charles Schultz.
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1999
Mars Polar Lander launched.
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1996
The first mobile flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale.
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1994
More than 7 million people receive South African citizenship that had previously been denied under Apartheid policies.
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1993
George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
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1990
Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to US forces.
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1985
President Ronald Reagan condemns a rash of arson attacks on abortion clinics.
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1978
North Vietnamese troops reportedly occupy 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces.
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1977
Apple Computers incorporates.
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1966
Cambodia warns the United Nations of retaliation unless the United States and South Vietnam end intrusions.
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1961
The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
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1959
Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army.
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Alaska is admitted into the Union as the 49th and largest state.
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1958
The British create the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general.
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1956
Mel Gibson, actor, director, producer, screenwriter (Mad Max, Passion of the Christ).
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1946
President Harry S. Truman calls on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis.
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1933
The Japanese take Shuangyashan, China, killing 500 Chinese.
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1931
Hundreds of farmers storm a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.
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1930
The second conference on Germany’s war reparations begins at the Hague, in the Netherlands.
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1929
Sergio Leone, Italian director, instrumental in creating the “Spaghetti Western” genre (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).
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1924
King Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus is uncovered near Luxor, Egypt.
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1923
Bud Adams, owner of Houston Oilers (later Tennessee Titans) football team; instrumental in founding the former American Football League.
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1921
Italy halts the issuing of passports to those emigrating to the United States.
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1920
The last of the U.S. troops depart France.
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1917
Vernon A. Walters, US Army lieutenant general, diplomat, deputy director of Central Intelligence; member of Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
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1916
Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal.
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1912
Plans are announced for a new $150,000 Brooklyn stadium for the Trolley Dodgers baseball team.
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1911
John Sturges, director (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape).
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1910
The Social Democratic Congress in Germany demands universal suffrage.
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1909
Victor Borge, pianist, comedian, conductor.
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1907
Ray Milland, Welsh actor and director; won Academy Award for his role in The Lost Weekend.
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1903
The Bulgarian government renounces the Treaty of Commerce tying it to the Austro-Hungarian empire.
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1901
Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnamese president assassinated by his own generals.
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1861
Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding from the Union.
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1793
Lucretia Coffin Mott, women’s rights advocate and founder of the first Women’s Rights Convention.
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1777
General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey.
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1621
William Tucker, believed to be first African-American born in the New World.
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1521
Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
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106
Marcus Cicero, Roman statesman and author.