EVENTS
- 1533 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Incan Empire.
- 1777 – The Articles of Confederation were adopted by Continental Congress.
- 1864 – Union General Sherman begins his famous March to the Sea by burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground.
- 1881 – The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada was formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Five years later the organization was renamed the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
- 1889 – Brazil became a republic.
- 1920 – League of Nations holds it’s first assembly in Geneva.
- 1943 – During the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler ordered Gypsies and part-Gypsies to be sent to concentration camps. The number of Gypsies killed by Nazis is estimated up to 500,000.
- 1949 – Assassins of MK Gandhi Executed in India. Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and 6 other co-conspirators of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were hanged at the Ambala jail. On January 30, 1948, Godse who was unhappy about Gandhi’s accommodation of India’s Muslims shot Gandhi while he was out for his evening prayers.
- 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his movie debut. Love Me Tender, a black-and-white musical starred the American singer, who is also sometimes called the King of Rock and Roll. The movie was named after Presley’s hit single by the same name.
- 1969 – The largest antiwar rally in U.S. History occurred as 250,000 persons gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest the Vietnam War.
- 1969 – Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy’s restaurant
- 1971 – Intel releases world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor
- 1977 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens in theaters.
- 1980 – Pope John Paul II visited West Germany, the first papal visit to Germany in 200 years.
- 1988 – State of Palestine created. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the creation of the state while in exile in Algiers, Algeria. The declaration designated eastern Jerusalem as the state’s capital. Today, almost 70% of all UN members state recognize it as an independent country.
- 2006 – Al Jazeera English launched. The English language 24-hour news channel is owned and run by Al Jazeera Media Network based in Doha, Qatar.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1708 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
- 1886 – René Guénon (French/Egyptian author)
- 1887 – Georgia O’Keeffe (Painter)
- 1891 – Erwin Rommel (German General in WW2)
- 1919 – Joseph Wapner (TV Judge)
- 1929 – Ed Asner (Actor)
- 1942 – Daniel Barenboim (Argentine/Israeli conductor, pianist)
DEATHS
- 1630 – Johannes Kepler (German astronomer)
- 1908 – Empress Dowager Cixi (of China)
- 1917 – Émile Durkheim (French sociologist)
- 1978 – Margaret Mead (American anthropologist)
- 1983 – John Le Mesurier (English actor)