On January 2nd...

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1235 Emperor Joseph II ordered the Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names.

1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible began his march to Novgorod.

1647 Nathaniel Bacon, leader of a rebellion in colonial Virginia, was born.

1727 British General James Wolfe was born.

1752 Poet Philip Freneau was born.

1757 British troops occupied Calcutta, India.

1788 Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the Constitution.

1811 Timothy Pickering became the first U. S. Senator to be censured.

1818 The British Institution of Civil Engineers was founded.

1830 Henry M. Flagler, developer of Florida's east coast, was born.

1831 The abolitionist newspaper Liberator began publication.
1831 Justin Winsor, librarian and author, was born.

1833 British rule over the Falkland Islands was re-established.

1842 The first wire suspension bridge for general traffic in the United States opened in Pennsylvania.

1863 The Battle of Murfreesboro (Tennessee) ended.

1865 Educator William Lyon Phelps was born.

1871 Amadeus I was inaugurated as King of Spain.

1882 Standard Oil was organized as a trust.

1883 The Battle of Boschberg (South Africa) was fought.

1893 The first U. S. commemorative stamps were issued, in honor of the World's Columbian Exposition.

1904 Confederate General James Longstreet died.

1905 Japanese troops captured Port Arthur from Russia.

1906 Willis Carrier received a patent for his "Apparatus for Treating Air."

1913 The National Woman's Party was formed.

1919 Lithuania gained independence.

1920 Author Isaac Asimov was born.

1923 The Ku Klux Klan killed 8 persons in a black residential area of Rosewood, Florida.

1925 Larry Harmon, aka Bozo the Clown, was born.

1929 The United States and Canada agreed to preserve Niagara Falls.

1934 The first state liquor stores opened in Pennsylvania.

1935 The trial of Bruno Hauptman for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son began.

1936 Singer Roger Miller was born.

1938 Book publisher Simon and Schuster was founded.

1939 Televangelist Jim Bakker was born.

1942 Japanese troops occupied Manila, Philippines.

1949 Luis Muñoz Marin became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.

1955 Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated.

1959 The Soviet Union launched Luna 1 toward the Moon, making it the first man-made object to achieve escape velocity.
1959 The cornerstone for Alaska Methodist University, in Anchorage, was laid.

1960 The murder trial of Bernard Finch and Carole Tregoff began.
1960 J. Paul Sauvé, Prime Minister of Quebec, died.

1961 The Houston Oilers beat the Los Angeles Chargers 24-16 in the first ever American Football League Championship game.

1962 The nighttime version of "Password" premiered on CBS-TV.

1963 Actor Dick Powell died.

1964 Ghanian President Kwame Nkrumah escaped unscathed from an assassination attempt.

1968 Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. was born.

1971 A barrier collapsed at Ibrox Park football ground in Glasgow, Scotland, killing 66 persons.

1972 The Miami Dolphins defeated the Baltimore Colts 21-0 for the AFC Championship.
1972 The Dallas Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers 14-3 for the NFC Championship.
1972 Virginia Wade defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final match of the Australian Women's Open.

1974 U. S. President Richard Nixon signed a bill establishing a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour.
1974 Singer Tex Ritter died.

1975 The U. S. Department of the Interior designated the grizzly bear a threatened species.

1979 Christine O'Neil defeated Betsy Nagelsen in the final match of the Australian Women's Open.

1980 British steel workers began a nationwide strike.
1980 Guillermo Vilas defeated John Sadri in the final match of the Australian Men's Open.

1981 Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert-Lloyd in the final match of the Australian Women's Open.

1982 The San Diego Chargers defeated the Miami Dolphins 41-38, in overtime, for the AFC Divisional Championship.

1983 The musical "Annie"* ended its Broadway run, after 2,377 performances.
1983 Garry Trudeau began a 20-month break from drawing "Doonesbury."

1984 Riots in Tunis, Tunisia, killed over 100 persons.
1984 Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was declared Head of State in Nigeria, following a military coup.

1985 Nevada-Las Vegas defeated Utah 142-140 to set a new record for highest college basketball score.

1986 Actress Una Merkel died.
1986 Bill Veeck, owner of the Chicago White Sox, died.

1988 Guerrillas ambushed a train near Mozambique's western border, killing at least 22 persons and injuring 71.

1989 UCLA won a record 7th consecutive bowl game.

1990 Actor Alan Hale, Jr. died.

1995 A bus crash in Luzon, Philippines, killed 29 persons.

1996 The United States deployed troops in northern Bosnia.

1999 A winter storm dumped 14 inches of snow on Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches on Chicago, Illinois, and caused 68 deaths.

2001 William P. Rogers, former U. S. Attorney General and Secretary of State, died.

2002 The Argentine Legislative Assembly appointed Eduardo Duhalde interim President.

2004 Stardust flew past Comet Wild 2 and collected samples.

2014 A bus plunged off a cliff and fell 400 feet in Malshej Ghat, India, killing 30 persons.

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This page was last updated on January 02, 2019.