A bit of January 21st history…

1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zurich, breaking a thousand year tradition of church-state union

1793 - Louis the XVI of France is executed by guillotine in Paris following his conviction for high treason. (pictured) 

1919 - Irish militant nationalist party Sinn Fein creates its own parliament in Dublin and declares Ireland independent of Great Britain, sparking the Irish War of Independence

1968 - The Battle of Khe Sanh, one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War, begins

2020 - World’s oldest asteroid impact at 2.2 billion years old found in Western Australia; may have ended an ice age 

On January 20, 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president sworn into office in January.  Continue reading.

On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy distinguished his inaugural ceremony with a poetry reading by fellow New Englander Robert Frost.  Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of January 20th history…

1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded

1942 - Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the “final solution”, the extermination of Europe’s Jews

1945 - FDR sworn in for an unprecedented, and never to be repeated, 4th term as US president

1980 - President Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow

1981 - US diplomats and citizens held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran are released after 444 days

1982 - Heavy Metal musician Ozzy Osbourne bites the head of a bat on stage (pictured)

1988 - Reagan becomes 1st US president elected in a “0″ year since 1840 to leave office alive

No writer has the ability to evoke a sense of horror and dread more effectively than Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts.  Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of January 19th history…

1806 - UK reoccupies the Cape of Good Hope following victory in Battle of Baauwberg; establishing British rule in South Africa

1825 - Ezra Daggett and nephew Thomas Kinsett patent food storage in tin cans

1883 - 1st electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Edison, begins service - NJ

1903 - New bicycle race, “Tour de France”, announced

1915 - WWI: 1st German Zeppelin air raid attack on the UK (pictured)

1955 - 1st presidential news conference filmed for tv - Eisenhower

2013 - Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all 7 of his Tour de France victories 

On January 18, 1919, a few months after the end of World War I, leaders from the Allied nations began a series of discussions that became known as the Paris Peace Conference.  Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of January 18th history…

1644 - Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America’s 1st UFO sighting (pictured)

1788 - 1st elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay to set up a penal colony

1919 - The Paris Peace Conference opens to draw up treaties formally ending the Great War - WWI

1993 - Martin Luther King Jr holiday observed in all 50 states of the USA for the 1st time 

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts.  Continue reading.

On January 17, 1871, San Franciscan, Andrew Smith Hallidie patented an improved "Endless Wire Ropeway", a key component in the construction of the first cable car system.  Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of January 17th history…

1524 - Beginning of Giovanni de Verrazzano’s voyage to find a passage to China

1773 - Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle 

1821 - Mexico permits Moses Austin and 300 US families to settle in Texas, after his death he leaves it to his son Stephen

1893 - Queen Liliuokalani is deposed by an American coup, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic (pictured)

1946 - United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting

1987 - US President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran

1991 - Operation Desert Storm begins with US led coalition forces bombing Iraq during the Gulf War 

On January 16, 1896, Henry F. Kallenberg, an instructor of physical education at the University of Iowa, welcomed Amos Alonzo Stagg, athletic director at the recently founded University of Chicago, to Iowa City for an experimental game in a new sport.  Continue reading.

Carol Channing debuted in Hello Dolly! on January 16, 1964 to rave reviews from theater critic Walter Kerr, who declared "She is glorious."  Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.