more events on January 2
-
2006
A coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia, kills 12 miners and critically injures another. This accident and another within weeks lead to the first changes in federal mining laws in decades.
-
1999
A severe winter storm hits the Midwestern US; in Chicago temperatures plunge to -13 ºF and19 inches of snow fell; 68 deaths are blamed on the storm.
-
1981
British police arrest the “Yorkshire Ripper” serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe.
-
1980
President Jimmy Carter asks the U.S. Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet action in Afghanistan.
-
1973
The United States admits the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.
-
1968
Cuba Gooding Jr., actor; won Academy Award for Jerry Maguire.
-
1966
American G.I.s move into the Mekong Delta for the first time.
-
1963
In Vietnam, the Viet Cong down five U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta. 30 Americans are reported dead.
-
1948
Judith Miller, journalist; while working for the New York Times, she was involved in two major controversies, one concerning faulty information in her coverage of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and the other concerning the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame.
-
1943
The Allies capture Buna in New Guinea.
-
1942
Hugh Shelton, US general; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1997–2001; the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US occurred near the end of his term.
-
In the Philippines, the city of Manila and the U.S. Naval base at Cavite fall to Japanese forces.
-
1936
Roger Miller, singer, songwriter, actor (“King of the Road,” “Dang Me”).
-
In Berlin, Nazi officials claim that their treatment of Jews is not the business of the League of Nations.
-
1932
Japanese forces in Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo.
-
1925
William J. Crowe, US admiral; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush; he was ambassador to the UK under President Bill Clinton.
-
1920
Isaac Asimov, American writer of over 300 books including Foundation and I, Robot.
-
1918
Russian Bolsheviks threaten to re-enter the war unless Germany returns occupied territory.
-
1905
After a six-month siege, Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese.
-
1904
U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
-
1903
President Theodore Roosevelt closes a post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to hire a Black postmistress.
-
1866
Gilbert Murray, Australian-born scholar, chairman of the League of Nations, (1923-1928).
-
1863
In the second day of hard fighting at Stone’s River, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Union troops defeat the Confederates.
-
1861
Helen Herron Taft, First Lady to President William Howard Taft.
-
The USS Brooklyn is readied at Norfolk to aid Fort Sumter.
-
1839
Photography pioneer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the moon.
-
1758
The French begin bombardment of Madras, India.
-
1492
Catholic forces under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella take the town of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain.