On This Day in History.......

0069 Roman Lower Rhine army proclaims its commander, Vitellius, emperor
0533 John II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1235 Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names
1492 Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day)
1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins
1585 Spain & Catholic France sign Saint League of Joinville
1602 Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale
1678 Staatsoper Hamburg opens with Theiles "Adam und Eva"
1757 British troops occupy Calcutta India
1776 1st revolutionary flag displayed
1776 Austria ends interrogation torture
1788 Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution
1790 Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutti" premieres, Vienna
1800 Free black community of Philadelphia PA petitions Congress to abolish slavery
1811 US Senator Thomas Pickering is 1st senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US)
1814 Lord Byron completes "The Corsair"
1818 Lord Byron completes "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (4th canto)
1831 Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston
1832 1st Curling club in US (Orchard Lake Curling Club) opens
1839 1st photo of the Moon (French photographer Louis Daguerre)
1842 1st US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania
1843 Wagner's opera "Der Fliegende Holländer" premieres, Dresden
1861 Colonel Charles Stone is put in charge of organizing DC militia
1861 SC seizes inactive Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor
1863 Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River) ends
1871 King Amadeus I of Spain inaugurated at 25
1879 Northwestern League (minor baseball league) organized, Rockford IL
1879 1st Test match hat-trick, Fred Spofforth at the MCG
1879 British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die
1881 Camille Saint-Saëns' 3rd Concerto in B, premieres
1882 Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust
1885 General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum
1890 Alice Sanger becomes 1st female White House staffer
1890 Record 19'2" alligator shot in Louisiana by E A McIlhenny
1893 1st US commemoratives & 1st US stamp to picture a woman issued
1896 Battle at Doornkop, South Africa (Boers beat Dr Jamesons troops)
1900 E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montréal)
1900 Gustave Charpentiers opera "Louise" premieres in Paris
1903 President T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola MI, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black
1905 Elara, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Perrine
1905 Japanese troops capture Port Arthur
1908 Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa
1909 1st official Dutch 11 city skate (Minne Hoekstra in 13 50)
1910 1st junior high schools in US open in Berkeley CA
1911 Brooklyn Dodgers president Charles Ebbets announces purchase of grounds to build a new concrete-and-steel stadium to seat 30,000
1913 National Woman's Party forms
1914 Philips installs research department in Eindhoven
1917 Royal Bank of Canada takes over Québec Bank
1918 Dodgers trade Casey Stengel & Cutshaw to Pittsburgh for Grimes & Mamaux
1918 NHL Montréal Wanderers disband after Westmount arena burns down
1919 Anti-British uprising in Ireland
1919 Lithuania gains independence
1920 10,000 US union & socialist organizers arrested (Palmer Raids)
1921 DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opens
1921 1st religious service radio broadcast in US, KDKA-Pittsburgh
1923 Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood FL, 8 killed (compensation awarded in 1995)
1925 Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region established (now in Tadzhik SSR)
1929 US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls
1932 Young gang shoot dead 6 police in Springfield Missouri
1933 Bruins beat Rangers in New York 13-3
1933 Bradman scores 103* against the Bodyline attack in the 2nd Test
1933 Ijmuider fishing strike begins (till July 11th)
1933 US troops leave Nicaragua
1934 1st state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania
1934 Bradman scores 253 New South Wales vs Queensland, 204 minutes, 29 fours 4 sixes
1935 Bruno R Hauptmann trial begins for kidnap-murder of Lindbergh baby
1936 1st electron tube to enable night vision described, St Louis MO
1936 Bradman scores 357 for South Africa vs Victoria, 424 minutes, 40 fours
1938 Book publisher Simon and Schuster founded
1939 Bradman scores 107 South Africa vs Victoria, his 4th consecutive century
1942 28 nations, at war with Axis, pledge no separate peace
1942 German troops in Bardia surrender
1942 Japanese troops occupy Manila Philippines
1944 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol)
1945 Kentucky begins 130 home basketball game win streak, ends in 1955
1945 Allied air raid on Neurenberg
1945 Radio Orange ends cooperation at Liese-Aktion
1947 Mahatma Gandhi begins march for peace in East-Bengali
1948 WNDT (now WNET) TV channel 13 in New York-Newark, New York (PBS) begins
1949 KDKA TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1951 Philip Barry's "Second Threshold" premieres in New York City NY
1952 "Pal Joey" opens at Broadhurst Theater New York City NY for 542 performances
1953 NBA Baltimore Bullets begin a 32 game road losing streak
1954 Herman Wouks "Caine Mutiny" premieres in New York City NY
1955 1st "Bob Cummings Show" premieres on NBC (later on CBS)
1956 Poujadists/communists win French parliamentary elections
1958 Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Piano concert, premieres in NY
1959 USSR launches Mechta (Luna 1) for 1st lunar fly-by, 1st solar orbit
1959 Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees
1960 Senator John F Kennedy, announces his candidacy for President
1960 1st redshank old world shore bird reported in North America (Halifax)
1960 John Reynolds sets age of solar system at 4,950,000,000 years
1960 Roger Sessions' 4th Symphony premieres
1961 1st AFL Championship Game, Houston Oilers beat Los Angeles Chargers 24-16
1961 Hawaii's, then all time low temperature, 14ºF recorded atop Haleakale
1962 Nighttime version of "Password" with Allen Ludden premieres on CBS
1964 Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
1964 Failed assassination attempt on President Nkrumah of Ghana
1965 Martin Luther King Jr begins a drive to register black voters
1965 New York Jets sign quarterback Joe Namath
1965 Obverse design of all Canadian coins is changed to depict the Queen with a slightly more mature look
1966 Green Bay Packers beat Cleveland Browns 23-12 in NFL championship game
1966 1st Jewish child born in Spain since 1492 expulsion
1968 "Zizi" closes at Broadway Theater New York City NY after 49 performances
1968 Christiaan Barnard performs 2nd heart transplant
1968 KBHK TV channel 44 in San Francisco CA, (IND) begins broadcasting
1969 "Fig Leaves Are Falling" opens at Broadhurst Theater New York City NY for 4 performances
1969 "Soviet Sport" calls Emile Zatopek a public enemy
1969 Lorraine Hansberry's "To be Young, Gifted & Black" premieres in New York City NY
1970 Dutch premiere of musical "Hair" in Amsterdam
1970 US population is 205,052,174; Black population 22,600,000 (11.1%)
1971 A barrier collapses at Ibrox Park football ground at end of a soccer match in Glasgow Scotland, killing 66
1972 Dallas Cowboys beat San Francisco 49ers 14-3 in NFC championship game
1972 Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars
1972 Miami Dolphins beat Baltimore Colts 21-0 in AFC championship game
1972 "Rothschilds" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City NY after 505 performances
1974 55 MPH speed limit imposed by Richard Nixon
1974 Worst fire in Argentine history destroys 1.2 million acres
1975 US Department of Interior designates grizzly bear a threatened species
1977 Bowie Kuhn suspends Braves owner Ted Turner for one year due to tampering charges in Gary Matthews free-agency signing
1978 Rhino Records releases their 1st album "Wildmania"
1978 Bülent Ecevit forms government in Turkey
1979 30th Islander shut-out opponent-Glenn Resch 9-0 vs Vancouver
1979 Dr Benjamin E Mays, named president of Atlanta Board of Education
1979 Sid Vicious' trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spingen begins
1979 Gavaskar gets twin tons for India for the third time (v West Indies)
1980 68th Australian Men Tennis Guillermo Vilas beat John Sadri (76 63 62)
1981 Mary Terstegge Meagher swims female record 200 meter butterfly (2 05.65)
1981 Sylvester Clarke knocks out spectator with brick, West Indies vs Pakistan
1982 Islanders start 23 undefeated home streak (21-0-2) 14 straight wins
1982 San Diego Chargers beat Miami Dolphins, 41-38 in 13 52 of OT
1982 "Camelot" closes at Winter Garden Theater New York City NY after 48 performances
1982 70th Australian Mens Tennis Johan Kriek beats S Denton (62 76 67 64)
1983 Ken Anderson of Cincinnati OH completes record 20 consecutive passes
1983 "Annie" closes at Alvin Theater New York City NY after 2,377 performances
1983 "Sophisticated Ladies" closes at Lunt-Fontanne New York City NY after 767 performances
1983 Don Muraco beats Pedro Morales to become WWF Intercontinental Champ
1983 Garry Trudeau takes a 20-month break from writing "Doonesbury"
1984 Miami beats Nebraska in Orange Bowl for college football championship
1984 Darryl Cullinan, 16, scores his 1st first-class cricket century
1984 Riot in Tunis kills over 100
1984 Wilson Goode, sworn-in as Philadelphia's 1st black mayor
1985 90th hat trick in Islander history-Brent Sutter
1985 Nevada-Las Vegas beats Utah 142-140, highest college basketball score
1985 Undefeated Brigham Young University becomes college football champion
1985 Australia beat West Indies by innings at SCG, Bob Holland 10 match wickets
1985 Egyptian President Mubarak re-appoints Coptic pope Shenuda III
1986 191.66 million shares traded in New York Stock Exchange
1986 New York Islander, Mike Bossy, scores his 500th goal
1987 Penn State upsets Miami in Fiesta Bowl for college football champ
1987 Troops of Chad President Habré conquer Fada oasis
1988 Ashland Oil storage tank spills 3.8 million gallons, Pennsylvania
1988 Mulroney & Reagan sign Canada-US free trade agreement
1989 Notre Dame beats West Virginia for college football championship
1989 UCLA wins a record 7th consecutive bowl game
1990 Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15)
1990 Sting joins wrestlings 4 Horsemen (Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson)
1991 Colorado wins its 1st AP national title poll
1992 Test debut of Shane Warne, vs India at Sydney
1993 "Gypsy Passion" closes at Plymouth Theater New York City NY after 55 performances
1994 "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" closes at Beaumont New York City NY after 40 performances
1994 "Shakespeare after My Father" closes at Helen Hayes New York City NY after 266 performances
1994 Battles between army & rebellious Indians in South Mexico, kill 57
1995 Bus crashes in Luzon Philippines, 29 killed
1995 Carquest Bowl 5 South Carolina beats West Virginia, 24-21
1995 Most distant galaxy yet discovered found by scientists using Keck telescope in Hawaii (estimated 15 billion light years away)
1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Columbus OH on WBZX 99.7 FM
1998 Autopsy of Chris Farley shows he overdosed of opiates & cocaine
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Missing in Action.......

1966 MAC LAUGHLIN DONALD C. BALTIMORE MD
1967 MENGES GEORGE BRUCE MAPLE HEIGHTS OH REMAINS RETURNED 08/80 BY INDIGINOUS
1970 BROOKS NICHOLAS G. NEWBURGH NY REMAINS RETURNED 02/03/82
1970 FRYAR BRUCE C. RIDGEWOOD NJ
1970 LINDSTROM RONNIE G. DULUTH MN
1970 WEST JOHN T. BALTIMORE MD

Births which occurred on January 02:

1642 Mehmed IV sultan (Turkey)
1647 Nathaniel Bacon leader of Bacon's Rebellion, Virginia (1676)
1699 Osman III sultan (Turkey)
1713 Mademoiselle Dumesnil Paris, tragic actress (Racine's Phadre, Hermione)
1727 James Wolfe commanded British Army (captured Québec)
1728 Louis Barbiano de Belgioioso Austrian count/diplomat in Belgium
1732 Franz Xaver Brixi composer
1752 Philip Freneau poet of American Revolution (The American Village)
1777 Christian D Rauch German sculptor
1803 Gugliemo Libri [della Somaia], Italian/French mathematician/book collector
1807 Tomasz Napoleon Nidecki composer
1809 Friedrich Wilhelm Jahns composer
1822 Rudolph J E Clausius Germany, physicist (thermodynamics)
1830 Henry Kingsley English/Australian writer
1831 Justin Winston historian/librarian (Harvard)
1835 Charles Russell Lowell Jr Brigadier General (Union volunteers)
1837 Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev Nizhny-Novgorod, Russia, composer (Tamara)
1842 Amy G C A Bonet-Maury French reformed theologist
1846 Sandor Erkel composer
1857 Frederick Opper cartoonist (Willie and His Papa, Maud the Mule, Alphonse & Gaston)
1857 Martha Carey Thomas educator/president (Bryn Mawr College)
1860 William C Mills museum curator (excavated Ohio Indian mounds)
1861 Helen Herron Taft 1st lady (1909-13)
1861 Wilhelm Bölsche writer
1863 Lucia Zarate became lightest known adult human (2.1 kg at 17)
1870 Ernst Barlach writer
1873 Anton Pannekoek Dutch astronomer/marxist theorist (Communist Tactics)
1879 Johannes L "Jan" Walch Dutch literary (Grimaces)
1879 Pieter Tesch Dutch geologist (Pedestal of Nederlands)
1880 Louis Breguet French aviation pioneer
1884 Jacques Chardonne [Boutelleau], French writer (l'Epithalame)
1885 Johannes Ringers Dutch water engineer (dikes)
1886 Moyshe Leyb Halpern Galican/US poet (In New-York)
1889 Tito Schipa Italy, tenor/composer (La Rondine)
1889 Walter Baldwin Ohio, actor (Gay Amigo)
1892 Lura Anson Nebraska, entertainer
1894 Robert Nathan New York City NY, poet, novelist (Portrait of Jennie)
1895 Count Folke Bernadotte Sweden, statesman (Red Cross, UN)
1896 Dziga Vertiv [Denis A Kaufman], Russian director (Sjagai, Soviet!)
1896 Ernst-Lothar von Knorr composer
1899 Alexander Tcherepnin St Petersburg Russia, composer
1899 Paul-Henri Spaak Belgium, Premier/Secretary-General of NATO (1957-61)
19-- John Bedford-Lloyd New Haven CT, actor (Peter-Hometown)
19-- Ron Hale actor (Michael Corbin-General Hospital, Dr Roger Coleridge-Ryan's Hope)
1901 Robert Marshall founder (Wilderness Society)
1901 Rex O'Malley London England, actor (Camille, Zara, Midnight)
1901 Torsten Ralf Swedish tenor (Daphne)
1903 Anton van Duinkerken [Willem JMA Asselbergs], literary
1904 James Melton Moultrie GA, opera tenor (Ford Festival)
1904 Sally Rand Hickory County MO, stripper (fan dance)
1905 Michael Kemp Tippett English composer/conductor (Child of our Time)
1907 Edward Albert Radice economist
1907 Salvador Ley composer
1908 Ben Grauer New York City NY, newscaster (Big Story)
1908 Janis Kepitis composer
1909 Rene Etiemble French literature historian (Parlez-vous Franglais)
1910 Ulrich Becher writer
1912 Anna Lee Ightham England, actress (Scruples, Lila-General Hospital)
1912 Barbara Pentland Winnipeg Canada, composer
1912 Renato Guttuso Italian painter (The Flight from Etna, Crucifixion)
1912 Andre Ameller composer
1913 Gardner Read Evanston, Illinois, composer
1913 Ernest Sidey British air marshal
1913 Juanita E Jackson Mitchell US head (NAACP)
1913 Léon P Teisserenc de Bort France, meteorologist
1915 John Hope Franklin historian
1920 Isaac Asimov Russia, scientist/writer (I Robot, Foundation Trilogy)
1920 Duke of Devonshire English large landowner/art collector
1920 Penelope Jessel politcal activist
1920 Peter Harrison Swan bomber pilot/stockbroker
1922 Jason Evers New York City NY, actor (Wrangler, Channing)
1922 Nico Schuyt composer
1922 Renata Tebaldi Pesaro Italy, lyric soprano
1925 William J Crowe Jr Kentucky, chairman joint chiefs of staff
1925 Andry Maryanovich Nikodemovich composer
1927 Gino Marchetti NFL defensive end (Dallas Texans, Baltimore Colts)
1927 David Herbert publisher
1927 Richard Belmont Ray (Representative-D-GA)
1928 Dan Rostenkowski (Representative-D-IL, -94), House Ways & Means Committee chair
1928 Vaughn Beals Cambridge MA, CEO (Harley Davidson motorcycle)
1928 Gerhard Amanshauser writer
1928 Harry Hyams English immovable goods owner (Center Point)
1928 Howard Caine Nashville TN, actor (Brushfire)
1928 Tiberiu Olah composer
1929 Art Prysock jazz musician
1930 Julius LaRosa Brooklyn NY, singer (fired by Arthur Godfrey on the air)
1931 Toshiki Kaifu premier of Japan (1989-91)
1932 Dabney Coleman Austin Texas, (That Girl, Mary Hartman, Buffalo Bill)
1936 Roger Miller Fort Worth TX, country singer (King of the Road, Dang Me)
1937 Marianne McDonald classicist/philanthropist
1938 John Considine actor (Reginald Love-Another World)
1939 Jim Bakker televangelist (PTL Club)/philanderer (Jessica Hahn)
1944 Peter Eotvos composer
1947 Aleksandr Tikhonova USSR, biathalon relay (Olympics-gold-1968, 72, 76, 80)
1947 Lanny Bassham US, rifle-3 position (Olympics-gold-1976)
1947 Calvin Hill NFL running back (Dallas Cowboys)
1949 Christopher Durang Montclair NJ, playwright/actor (Sister Mary)
1949 Chick Churchill Wales, keyboardist (Ten Years After-I'm Going Home)
1950 Lou Gramm rocker (Foreigner-Midnight Blue, Ready Or Not)
1951 Nadia Cassini [Gianna Lou Muller], Woodstock NY, model (Oui)
1952 Wendy Phillips Brooklyn NY, actress (Stacey-Executive Suite, Promised Land)
1952 Ricky Van Shelton Grit VA, country singer (Wild-Eyed Dream)
1954 Ludmila Borozna USSR, volleyball player (Olympics-gold-1972)
1957 Joanna Pacula Tomszowaubelski Poland, actress (Gorky Park, Kiss)
1959 Kirti Azad cricketer (Indian off-spin all-rounder in 7 Tests 1981-83)
1960 Raman Lamba cricketer (Indian opening batsman 1986-87)
1963 David Cone Kansas City MO, baseball pitcher (New York Mets/Toronto Blue Jays/New York Yankees)
1963 Edgar Martinez New York City, NY, baseball 1st baseman (Seattle Mariners)
1964 Christopher John Gray priest
1964 Pernell Whitaker boxer (Olympics-gold)
1964 Rumesh Ratnayake cricketer (Sri Lankan pacer in 23 Tests 1983-92)
1965 Diane Lane New York City, NY, actress (Streets of Fire, Lady Beware, Lonesome Dove)
1965 Greg Swindell Fort Worth TX, pitcher (Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians)
1965 Russ Courtnall Duncan, NHL right wing (Vancouver Canucks)
1966 Tia Carrere [Althea Janairo], Honolulu, actress (Wayne's World)
1967 Harlon Barnett NFL safety (Minnesota Vikings)
1968 Cuba Gooding Jr actor (Jerry McGuire, As Good As It Gets, Boyz N the Hood, A Few Good Men)
1968 Scott Mitchell NFL quarterback (Detroit Lions)
1969 Christy Turlington San Francisco CA, model (Calvin Klein Eternity)
1969 Rick Tabaracci Toronto, NHL goalie (Calgary Flames)
1969 Robert Svehla Martin Czechoslovakia, NHL defenseman (Florida Panthers, Slovakia)
1969 Stephen Davies Australian field hockey forward/vice captain (Olympics-silver-92, 96)
1970 Aleksandr Shimin hockey goaltender (Team Kazakhstan Olympics-1998)
1970 Anthony Stuart cricketer (Australian ODI pace bowler, hat trick 1997)
1970 Glenn Cadrez NFL linebacker (Denver Broncos-Super Bowl XXXII)
1970 Royce Clayton Burbank CA, infielder (San Francisco Giants, St Louis Cardinals)
1971 Aamer Nazir cricketer (Pakistani pace bowler 1993- )
1971 Aaron Williams NBA center (Seattle Supersonics)
1971 Brad Parpan WLAF quarterback (Rhein Fire)
1971 Horace Copeland NFL wide receiver (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1971 Robert O'Neal WLAF DB (Amsterdam Admirals)
1972 Jeff Jackson US baseball outfielder (Philadelphia Phillies)
1972 Lake Dawson NFL wide receiver (Kansas City Chiefs)
1972 Mattias Norstrom Mora Sweden, NHL defenseman (Team Sweden, Los Angeles Kings)
1973 Abu Wilson running back (Indianapolis Colts)
1973 Chris Woodruff Knoxville TN, tennis star (1993 NCAA Division I)
1973 Fredric Ford WLAF CB (Scotland Claymores)/NFL cornerback (Eagles)
1973 Sarah Schwald Bellingham Wash, 1.5k runner
1974 Juha Lind NHL forward (Team Finland Olympics-Bronze-1998, Dallas)
1978 Devin Doherty actor (Jimmy Clayton-Swan's Crossing)
1980 Stephanie Stiegler Santa Monica CA, pairs skater (& Zimmerman)
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Deaths which occurred on January 02:

0017 Publius Ovidius Naso Roman poet, dies
1726 Domenico Zipoli composer, dies at 37
1740 Johann Georg Weichenberger composer, dies at 63
1763 John Casteret Earl Granville English premier, dies at 72
1780 Johann Ludwig Krebs composer, dies at 66
1789 Franz Joseph Leonti Meyer von Schavensee composer, dies at 68
1790 Joseph A Feuchtmayer (Feichtmayer) German rococo sculptor, dies
1801 Johann C Lavater Swiss vicar/philosopher, dies at 59
1803 Ignaz Franz von Beecke composer, dies at 69
1861 Frederik Willem IV king Prussia (1840-61)/Germ (1849-61), dies at 65
1863 Roger Weightman Hanson Confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at 35
1892 George B Airy English astronomer/writer, dies at 90
1904 James Longstreet Confederate General, dies at 82
1908 Dom Joâo G da Câmara Portuguese journalist/playwright, dies at 55
1913 Léon P Teisserenc de Bort French meteorologist (stratosphere), dies at 57
1915 Karl Goldmark Austria-Hungarian composer (Queen of Saba), dies at 84
1917 Edward B Tylor English anthropologist, dies at 84
1918 Sijbe K Bakker vicar/theologist (Christian-Socialism), dies at 42
1921 Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg German chancellor/PM (Prussia); referred to the international treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality as "a scrap of paper", dies at 64
1923 Sam Carter black resident of Rosewood FL, lynched by KKK
1929 Erich Wichman[n] Dutch fascist painter/sculptor, dies at 38
1937 Ross Alexander actor (Capt Blood, Boulder Dam), dies at 29
1941 Mischa Levitzki composer, dies at 42
1945 Betram Home Ramsay English Admiral/Commander Naval Forces (Normandy), dies at 61
1946 Joe Darling cricketer (Aussie captain 21 Tests, won 7 lost 4), dies
1950 Emil Jannings actor (The Way of All Flesh), dies at 65
1955 José Antonio Remon President of Panamá (1952-55), assassinated
1960 Cees [Cornelis J] Laseur Dutch actor/director (Hague Comedy), dies at 60
1960 Chris van Abkoude author (Pietje Bell, Kruimeltje), dies at about 79
1960 Fausto Coppi Italian, ran world record 45,798 km, dies at 40
1960 Friedrich Adler Austria social-democrat, assasinated PM Stürgkh, dies in Zürich at 80
1961 Bob Catterall cricketer (1555 runs/24 Tests for South Africa 1922-31), dies
1963 Jack Carson actor (Star is Born, Mildred Pierce), dies at 52
1963 Dick Powell actor/director (Dick Powell Theater), dies at 58
1965 Staf Gustaf Frans Nees composer, dies at 63
1968 Sanoesi Pane Indonesian writer, dies
1969 Georges Renevant actor (Cornered), dies after long illness at 74
1970 Piotr Rytel composer, dies at 85
1974 Tex Ritter country singer (5 Star Jubilee), dies at 67
1977 Erroll Garner jazz pianist (Misty), dies at 53
1980 Larry Williams rocker, dies at 44
1981 David Lynch singer (Platters-My Prayer), dies at 51
1983 Harriet Parsons actress/producer (Susan Slept Here), dies at 76 of cancer
1983 Bernard George Stevens composer, dies at 66
1983 Dick Emery actor (Yellow Submarine, Loot, Baby Love), dies at 65
1986 Una Merkel US actress (Abraham Lincoln), dies at 82
1990 Alan Hale Jr actor (Skipper Jonas Grumby-Gilligan's Island), dies of cancer at 71
1990 Belcampo [Herman Schönfeld Wichers], Dutch lawyer/writer, dies at 87
1990 Vladimir Alexis Ussachevsky Manchuria composer (Creation), dies at 78
1991 Edmond Jabés writer, dies
1991 Renato Rascel actor (7 Hills of Rome), dies of heart failure at 78
1992 Virginia Field actress (Dream Girl), dies of cancer at 74
1994 Caesar Romero actor (Joker-Batman), dies at 86
1994 Dixy Lee Ray chairwoman (US Atomic Energy Commission), dies at 79
1994 Pierre-Paul Schweitzer French director of IMF (1963-73), dies at 81
1994 Sammy Taft Canadian businessman (coined term "hat trick"), dies at 81
1995 Graham Sharp ice skater, dies at 77
1995 Manuel Rivera Spanish painter/co-founder (El Paso), dies at 67
1995 Mohammed Siyad Barre President of Somalia (1969-91), dies
1995 Nancy Kelly US actress (Bad Seed, Submarine Patrol), dies at 73
1995 Siad Barre General/President of Somalia (1969-91), dies at 84
1996 Sydney Thompson rock Climber, dies at 81
1996 Thornton Page astrophysicist, dies at 82
1997 Jim Rodger sports writer, dies at 75
1997 Randy California [Wolfe], rock guitarist, dies at 45

1776 Congress publishes the Tory Act

The Continental Congress publishes the “Tory Act” resolution on this day in 1776, which describes how colonies should handle those Americans who remain loyal to the British and King George.

The act called on colonial committees to indoctrinate those "honest and well-meaning, but uninformed people" by enlightening them as to the "origin, nature and extent of the present controversy.” The Congress remained “fully persuaded that the more our right to the enjoyment of our ancient liberties and privileges is examined, the more just and necessary our present opposition to ministerial tyranny will appear.”

However, those “unworthy Americans,” who had “taken part with our oppressors” with the aim of gathering “ignominious rewards,” were left to the relevant bodies, some ominously named “councils of safety,” to decide their fate. Congress merely offered its “opinion” that dedicated Tories “ought to be disarmed, and the more dangerous among them either kept in safe custody, or bound with sufficient sureties to their good behavior.”

The lengths Congress and lesser colonial bodies would go to in order to repress Loyalists took a darker tone later in the act. Listing examples of the “execrable barbarity with which this unhappy war has been conducted on the part of our enemies,” Congress vowed to act “whenever retaliation may be necessary” although it might prove a “disagreeable task.”

In the face of such hostility, some Loyalists chose not to remain in the American colonies. During the war, between 60,000 and 70,000 free persons and 20,000 slaves abandoned the rebellious 13 colonies for other destinations within the British empire. The Revolution effectively created two countries: Patriots formed the new United States, while fleeing Loyalists populated Canada.
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1803 Albert Sidney Johnston born

Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston is born in Washington, Kentucky. Johnston was considered one of the best Confederate commanders until he was killed at Shiloh, the first major engagement in the west.

Johnston grew up in Kentucky and received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in 1822. While there, he became acquainted with Robert E. Lee and future Confederate President Jefferson Davis, two men who shaped Johnston's career. After graduation, Johnston served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 and resigned from the service in 1834 to care for his invalid wife. After her death, he moved to the new Republic of Texas and enlisted in the army as a private. Within three years he rose to general of the army, then Secretary of War for his adopted country. After Texas was annexed by the United States, Johnston served in the Mexican War and was commended for bravery at the Battle of Monterrey.

Johnston retired to his Texas plantation after the war, but he struggled financially. He returned to the service as paymaster for the forts in Texas, and in 1857 was appointed to lead an expedition against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormons) in Utah Territory. The Mormons disagreed with the government on issues of the territory's governance, and some officials thought a rebellion was in the making. Johnston arrived and found no opposition, and he spent the next three years occupying the territory.

When the Civil War erupted, Davis appointed Johnston commander of the Confederate department that stretched from the Appalachians to Texas. On April 6, 1862, Johnston attacked General Ulysses S. Grant's army at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee (Shiloh). The Confederates enjoyed great success initially. Grant's army was surprised and nearly destroyed until the afternoon, when Johnston rode forward to supervise the battle. He was mortally wounded, and the tide turned against the Confederates. The armies struggled into the next day but the Union held the field.

Johnston and Union General James McPherson were the only two army commanders killed in action during the Civil War. Johnston's death left a void in the leadership of the western armies that was never effectively filled.
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1905 Japanese capture Russian naval base at Port Arthur

In a crucial turning point of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan captures Port Arthur, a major Russian naval base on the Liaodong Peninsula in China, on this day in 1905.

When Czar Nicholas II’s Russia declined to withdraw its troops from Manchuria after joining with British, French, Japanese, German and American forces to suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, Japan became wary of Russia’s territorial ambitions in the Far East. On February 4, 1904, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur, beginning the Russo-Japanese War.

Port Arthur, which was called Lushun by the Chinese, had been an important port in the area as far back as the 6th century. Occupied in 1858 by the British, it was later used by the Chinese as a naval base to guard the entrance to Bao Hai, or the Gulf of Chihli, in the 1880s. Japan attacked and briefly held the city in 1895, but beginning in 1898 it had been leased to the Russians, who heavily fortified the naval base and renamed the city Port Arthur.

In light of the defeat at Port Arthur in January 1905, as well as the bitter and violent rebellion he faced within his own country, Czar Nicholas accepted the offer of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt to broker a peace between Russia and Japan. Under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth—signed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in August 1905—control of Port Arthur and the surrounding region was transferred to the Japanese, who renamed the city Ryojun. Ryojun would serve as an important naval base and the seat of government in the territory as well the main port for Japanese-controlled Manchuria until the end of World War II, when the area was placed under joint Soviet-Chinese control. Full Chinese sovereignty in Lushun was restored in 1955.

The surprising triumph in 1905 of upstart Japan over formidable Russia upset the traditional balance of power in Europe, exposing Russia’s growing vulnerability and foreshadowing the even greater upheaval that was to come.
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1942 Quisling becomes prime minister of puppet regime in Norway

On this day, Vidkun Quisling, a collaborator with the German occupiers of Norway, is established as prime minister of a puppet government.

On April 9, 1940, German warships entered major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deployed thousands of German troops, and occupied Norway. German forces were able to slip through the mines Britain had laid around Norwegian ports because local garrisons were ordered to allow the Germans to land unopposed. The order came from a Norwegian commander, Vidkun Quisling, who was loyal to Norway's pro-fascist former foreign minister.

Hours after the invasion, the German minister in Oslo demanded Norway's surrender. The Norwegian government refused, and the Germans responded with a parachute invasion. In September 1940, "commissarial counselors" in the control of the Germans replaced Norway's administrative council. Chief of these "counselors" was Quisling, who was given dictatorial powers and who proceeded to earn the enmity of Norwegians as he sent thousands of people to German concentration camps and executed members of the resistance movement.

On February 1, 1942, the commissarial counselors formed a formal government loyal to Germany, with Quisling as its prime minister. When Germany finally surrendered in May 1945, Quisling was arrested by Norway's Allied liberators, tried for treason, and executed. His name continues to be a synonym for "traitor."
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1943 Germans surrender at Stalingrad

On this day, the last of the German forces fighting at Stalingrad surrender, despite Hitler's earlier declaration that "Surrender is out of the question. The troops will defend themselves to the last!"

The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a potential strategic coup. But despite repeated attempts, the German 6th Army, under Friedrich von Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army, under Ewald von Kleist, could not break past the adamantine defense by the Soviet 62nd Army, despite pushing the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad.

Diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the cruelty of the Russian winter began to take their toll on the Germans. On November 19, the Soviets made their move, launching a counteroffensive that began with a massive artillery bombardment of the German position. The Soviets then encircled the enemy, launching pincer movements from north and south simultaneously, even as the Germans encircled Stalingrad. The German position soon became untenable. Surrender was their only hope for survival. But Hitler wouldn't hear of it: "The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round." Von Paulus held out until January 31, 1943, when he finally surrendered. Of more than 280,000 men under Paulus' command, half were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated from the front, and the remaining 91,000 were hauled off to Soviet POW camps.

Pockets of German belligerence continued until February 2. Hitler berated Von Paulus for not committing suicide. Von Paulus, captured by the Soviets, repaid Hitler by selling out to the Soviets, joining the National Committee for Free Germany, and urging German troops to surrender on other battlegrounds in the USSR.
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1962 First U.S. Air Force plane crashes in South Vietnam.

The first U.S. Air Force plane is lost in South Vietnam. The C-123 aircraft crashed while spraying defoliant on a Viet Cong ambush site.

The aircraft was part of Operation Ranch Hand, a technological area-denial technique designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. U.S. personnel dumped an estimated 19 million gallons of defoliating herbicides over 10-20 percent of Vietnam and parts of Laos from 1962 to 1971. Agent Orange--so named from the color of its metal containers--was the most frequently used.

The operation succeeded in killing vegetation but not in stopping the Viet Cong. The use of these agents was controversial, both during and after the war, because of questions about long-term ecological impacts and the effect on humans who handled or were sprayed by the chemicals. Beginning in the late 1970s, Vietnam veterans began to cite the herbicides, especially Agent Orange, as the cause of health problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer and birth defects in their children. Similar problems, including an abnormally high incidence of miscarriages and congenital malformations, have been reported among the Vietnamese people who lived in the areas where the defoliate agents were used.
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1970 Antiwar protestors sue Dow Chemical

Antiwar protestors take legal action in an attempt to prove that the Dow Chemical Company is still making napalm. Dow had claimed that it had stopped making napalm. Members of the antiwar movement filed suit against the Dow Chemical Company in a Washington, D.C., court. The plaintiffs were trying to force the company to disclose all government contracts to prove that the company was still making napalm.