http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Jan 4, 1999: The euro debuts
On this day in 1999, for the first time since Charlemagne's reign in the ninth century, Europe is united with a common currency when the "euro" debuts as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven European Union (EU) nations (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), representing some 290 million people, launched the currency in the hopes of increasing European integration and economic growth. Closing at a robust 1.17 U.S. dollars on its first day, the euro promised to give the dollar a run for its money in the new global economy. Euro cash, decorated with architectural images, symbols of European unity and member-state motifs, went into circulation on January 1, 2002, replacing the Austrian schilling, Belgian franc, Finnish markka, French franc, German mark, Italian lira, Irish punt, Luxembourg franc, Netherlands guilder, Portugal escudo and Spanish peseta. A number of territories and non-EU nations including Monaco and Vatican City also adopted the euro.
Conversion to the euro wasn't without controversy. Despite the practical benefits of a common currency that would make it easier to do business and travel throughout Europe, there were concerns that the changeover process would be costly and chaotic, encourage counterfeiting, lead to inflation and cause individual nations to loose control over their economic policies. Great Britain, Sweden and Demark opted not to use the euro. Greece, after initially being excluded for failing to meet all the required conditions, adopted the euro in January 2001, becoming the 12th member of the so-called eurozone.
The euro was established by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty on European Union, which spelled out specific economic requirements, including high degree of price stability and low inflation, which countries must meet before they can begin using the new money. The euro consists of 8 coins and 7 paper bills. The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) manages the euro and sets interest rates and other monetary policies. In 2004, 10 more countries joined the EU—-Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Several of these countries plan to start using the euro in 2007, with the rest to follow in coming years.
Jan 4, 1796: Congress accepts Colors of the French Republic
On this day in 1796, the House of Representatives accepts the Colors, or flag, of the French Revolutionary Republic, proclaiming it the most honorable testimonial of the existing sympathies and affections of the two Republics.
In an accompanying message, the French Committee of Public Safety lauded the United States as the first defenders of the rights of man, in another hemisphere. The French revolutionaries were eager to link their overthrow of Louis XVI in 1789 to that of King George III in 1776. They viewed the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights as American precursors to their own revolutionary Declaration of the Rights of Man.
The French wrote that they believed that the citizens of the new United States understood the French Revolution as an extension of a universal fight for freedom begun by the 13 colonies' war for independence and therefore celebrated every French victory as their own. In truth, however, the new republic was deeply divided over the French Revolution. Future President Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party were impassioned supporters of the revolutionaries, even as they turned to terror as a means of achieving their goals. By contrast, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and the rest of the Federalists looked upon the bloodbath the French Revolution had become with horror.
The French Revolution became a litmus test for Americans as they assessed their own revolution. The Democratic-Republicans believed the Federalist administrations of the 1790s had backed away from the more radical goals of democracy—for white people, at least--espoused during the War for Independence and that the Federalists hoped to simply replace the British aristocracy with an American meritocracy. Jeffersonians, on the other hand, desired equal rights for all men with white skin. Federalists took the outcome of the French Revolution as final evidence that overthrowing the social order as well as the political order could lead to nothing but death, destruction and destitution. So, when Thomas Jefferson won the presidency in 1800, Americans understood it as an endorsement of a revolutionary shift in the philosophy of their government.
Historians consider the peaceful succession of power from Federalist John Adams to the Democratic-Republican Jefferson to be the ultimate triumph of the American Revolution.
Jan 4, 1965: L.B.J. envisions a Great Society in his State of the Union address
On this day in 1965, in his State of the Union address, President Lyndon Baines Johnson lays out for Congress a laundry list of legislation needed to achieve his plan for a Great Society. On the heels of John F. Kennedy's tragic death, Americans had elected Johnson, his vice president, to the presidency by the largest popular vote in the nation's history. Johnson used this mandate to push for improvements he believed would better Americans' quality of life.
Following Johnson's lead, Congress enacted sweeping legislation in the areas of civil rights, health care, education and the environment. The 1965 State of the Union address heralded the creation of Medicare/Medicaid, Head Start, the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the White House Conference on Natural Beauty. Johnson also signed the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities Act, out of which emerged the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through the Economic Opportunity Act, Johnson fought a War on Poverty by implementing improvements in early childhood education and fair employment policies. He was also a strong advocate for conservation, proposing the creation of a green legacy through preserving natural areas, open spaces and shorelines and building more urban parks. In addition, Johnson stepped up research and legislation regarding air- and water-pollution control measures.
Under Kennedy, then-Vice President Johnson led the government's quest to develop American excellence in the sciences. As president, the ongoing technology race with the Soviet Union spurred Johnson to continue the vigorous national program of space exploration begun by Kennedy. During Johnson's presidency, the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) achieved the extraordinary and unprecedented accomplishment of orbiting a man around the moon.
Though many of Johnson's programs remain in place today, his legacy of a Great Society has been largely overshadowed by his decision to involve greater numbers of American soldiers in the controversial Vietnam War.
Jan 4, 1965: Johnson reaffirms commitment to South Vietnam
In his State of the Union message, President Lyndon B. Johnson reaffirms U.S. commitment to support South Vietnam in fighting communist aggression. In justifying the continued support to Saigon, Johnson pointed out that U.S. presidents had been giving the South Vietnamese help for 10 years, and, he said, "Our own security is tied to the peace of Asia."
Jan 4, 1950: The God That Failed published
The God That Failed, a collection of essays by six writers and intellectuals who either joined or sympathized with the communist cause before renouncing the ideology, is published by Harpers.
The book provided interesting insight into why communism originally appealed to, and then disappointed, so many adherents in the United States and Europe, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. The essays also showed that many individuals of good conscience and intentions desperately hoped that communism would bring order, justice, and peace to a world they worried was on the brink of disaster.
The six men who contributed to the book were all writers or journalists. Two were American (Louis Fischer and the African-American novelist Richard Wright); the rest were from Europe (Andre Gide from France, Arthur Koestler and Stephen Spender from England, and Ignazio Silone from Italy). Of these, Spender, Wright, Koestler, and Silone had been members of the Communist Party for varying lengths of time. Gide and Fischer, though they sympathized with the communist ideology, never formally joined the party. Each man, in his turn, eventually turned against communist ideology.
According to the volume's editor, British politician and essayist Richard Crossman, the very fact that these intelligent and compassionate individuals were drawn to communism was "an indictment of the American way of life," and evidence of "a dreadful deficiency in European democracy." All of the writers--particularly during the 1920s and 1930s, when fascism and totalitarianism were on the march and the Western democracies seemed unable or unwilling to intercede--turned to communism as the hope for a better, more democratic, and more peaceful world. Each man eventually broke with the communist ideology, however. Some were disturbed by the Soviet-Nazi pact of 1939; others had traveled to the Soviet Union and were appalled by the poverty and political oppression.
The book, which was published the same year that former State Department official Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury related to his alleged role in a communist spy ring in the United States, was an interesting contribution to the ongoing national debate concerning communism.
Jan 4, 1785: Jacob Grimm is born
On this day, the older of the two Grimm brothers, Jacob, is born in Hanau, Germany. His brother Wilhelm is born the following year.
As young men, the two brothers assisted some friends with research for an important collection of folk lyrics. One of the authors, impressed by the brothers' work, suggested they publish some of the oral folktales they'd collected. The collection appeared as Children's and Household Tales, later known as Grimm's Fairy Tales, in several volumes between 1812 and 1822.
Tales in the Grimm brothers' collection include "Hansel and Gretel," "Snow White," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Sleeping Beauty," "Rapunzel," and "Rumpelstiltskin." The brothers developed the tales by listening to storytellers and attempting to reproduce their words and techniques as faithfully as possible. Their methods helped establish the scientific approach to the documentation of folklore. The collection became a worldwide classic.
Jacob continued researching stories and language, and published an influential book of German grammar. He also did important work in language study and developed a principle, called Grimm's Law, regarding the relation of languages to each other. In 1829, Jacob and Wilhelm became librarians and professors at the University of Gottingen, and Jacob published another important work, German Mythologies, exploring the beliefs of pre-Christian Germans. In 1840, King Frederick William IV of Prussia invited the brothers to Berlin, where they became members of the Royal Academy of Science. They began work on an enormous dictionary, but Wilhelm died in 1859, before entries for the letter D were completed. Jacob followed four years later, having only gotten as far as F. Subsequent researchers finished the dictionary many years later.
Jan 4, 1965: Poet T.S. Eliot dies in London
Poet T.S. Eliot dies in London at age 76. Eliot's The Waste Land, published in 1922, is considered the single most influential work of poetry of the twentieth century. In 1948 he was bestowed the Order of Merit by King George VI and in the same year was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle
of Ruspina.
274 - St Eutychian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
871 - Battle at Reading: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish
invasion army
1357 - Flemish earl Louis & Luxembourg Duke Wenceslaus
sign peace treaty
1490 - Anna of Brittany announces that all those who would
ally with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of
lese-majesty.
1519 - -6] 1st Altenburger sermon (Luther & Karl von
Miltitz)
1570 - Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only
physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew"
1642 - King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacks the English
parliament
1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main
residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire.
1717 - Netherlands, England & France sign Triple
Alliance
1725 - Benjamin Franklin arrives in London [OS=Dec 24 1724]
1754 - Columbia University founded, as Kings College (NYC)
1762 - England declares war on Spain & Naples
1780 - Snowstorm hit Washington's army at Morristown, NJ
1781 - Andre Méchain discovers M80 (globular cluster in
Scorpio)
1832 - Insurrection of Trinidad negroes
1843 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Don Pasquale,"
premieres in Paris
1843 - Royal Academy (Technical Hague court) Delft opens
1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the
United States government.
Inventor/Industrialist Samuel ColtInventor/Industrialist
Samuel Colt 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William
McDonald aboard the Samarang.
1861 - Pres Buchanan appoints a fast on account of
threatened succession
1861 - US Ft Morgan, Mobile, seized by Alabama
1862 - Romney Campaign-Stonewall Jackson occupies Bath
1863 - 4 wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of
NY
1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent
headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.
1878 - Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.
1881 - Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival
Overture" premieres, Breslau
1883 - Ontario Rugby Football Union (forerunner of CFL) forms
1884 - Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario)
1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
1885 - Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs 1st appendectomy (on
Mary Gartside, 22)
1887 - Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world
(SF-SF)
1893 - US pres Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy
1894 - France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
1896 - AFL charters Actors' National Protective Union, NYC
1896 - Following Mormon abandonment of polygamy, Utah
admitted as 45th state
1898 - 1st installment of William Dean Howell's "Life
& Letters" appears
1902 - Hugh Trumble takes a hat-trick v England at the MCG
Inventor Thomas EdisonInventor Thomas Edison 1903 - Topsy,
an elephant, was electrocuted by Thomas Edison during the War of Currents
campaign.
1904 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 beat Winnipeg Rowing
Club, 2 games to 1
1904 - Supreme Court rules Puerto Ricans cannot be denied
admission to US
1906 - South Africa beat England by one wicket, their 1st
Test win
1907 - George Bernard Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell,"
premieres in London
1912 - Smallest earth-moon distance this century, 356,375 km
center-to-ctr
1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the
British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
1915 - 1st elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes
office in Idaho
1915 - Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops
1920 - 1st Black baseball league, National Negro Baseball
League, organizes
1920 - Amsterdam actors decide to strike for retirement
benefits
1921 - Eugene O'Neill's "Diff'rent," premieres in
NYC
1923 - 1st broadcast of "Barn Dance Show" (WBAP -
Fort Worth Texas)
1923 - Lenin's "Political Testament" calls for
removal of Stalin
1925 - French psychologist Emil Coué brings his self-esteem
therapy to US "Every day in every way I am getting better &
better"
Marxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir
LeninMarxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir Lenin 1926 - Theodorus
Pangalos resigns as Greek dictator
1932 - Bradman scores 167 for Australia v South Africa at
the MCG
1932 - British East Indies Viceroy Willingdon arrests Gandhi
& Nehru
1932 - State of siege proclaimed in Honduras
1934 - 1st Dutch talkie movie, Jan Teunissen's "Willem
of Orange," premieres
1935 - Bob Hope 1st heard on network radio as part of
"The Intimate Revue"
1935 - Ft Jefferson National Monument, Fla established
1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its 1st music hit parade
1936 - Grimmett becomes world record wicket taker with no
190 v South Africa
1939 - Frieda Wunderlich elected 1st woman dean of a US
graduate school
1939 - Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of
Jewish Emigration
1941 - Resistance fighters counter d'Estienne d'Orves/Jan
Doornik, 1st meet
1942 - NFL Pro Bowl: Chi Bears beats NFL All-Stars 35-24
1942 - Premier Churchill & General Marshall fly to
Florida
1942 - Rogers Hornsby is 14th player selected to the Hall of
Fame
Novelist Thomas MannNovelist Thomas Mann 1943 - Thomas Mann
completes his tetralogy, "Joseph & His Brothers"
1944 - Ralph Bunche appointed 1st Negro official in US State
Department
1945 - Germans execute resistance fighters in Amsterdam
1945 - US jeep-aircraft carrier Ommaney Bay sinks after
kamikaze attack
1947 - "Park Avenue" closes at Shubert Theater NYC
after 72 performances
1947 - "Show Boat" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC
after 417 performances
1948 - Burma declares independence from UK
1951 - During Korean conflict, Chinese forces capture Seoul
1953 - KTSM TV channel 9 in El Paso, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 - Elvis Presley records a 10 minute demo in Nashville
1954 - Soap Opera "The Brighter Day" premieres
1957 - "Blondie" situation comedy premieres on NBC
TV (later on CBS)
1957 - Dodgers buy 44 passenger twin-engine airplane for
$775,000
1958 - Sputnik 1 reenters atmosphere & burns up
1959 - Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes 1st craft to leave Earth's
gravity
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger &
Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1960 - European Free Trade Association forms in
Stockholm
1961 - Longest recorded strike ends-33 yrs-Danish barbers'
assistants
1962 - 1st automated (unmanned) subway train (NYC)
1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates
without a crew on-board.
1963 - Soviet Luna (4) reaches Earth orbit but fails to
reach Moon
1965 - LBJ's "Great Society" State of the Union
Address
1966 - Doug Walters scores second Test century in his second
Test
1966 - WFLD TV channel 32 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins
broadcasting
1968 - Duck hunter accidentally shoots endangered whooping
crane in Texas
1968 - Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars for $13 million
1969 - "Fig Leaves Are Falling" closes at
Broadhurst NYC after 4 perfs
1969 - France begins arms embargo against Israel
1970 - Beatles last recording session at EMI studios
1970 - KC Chiefs beat Oakland Raiders 17-7 in AFC
championship game
1970 - Minnesota Vikings beat Cleveland Browns 27-7 in NFC
championship game
36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson36th US President Lyndon
B. Johnson 1970 - NYC transit fare rises from 20 cents to 30 cents, new larger tokens
used
1970 - Walter Cronkite ends hosting weekly documentary
1971 - Congressional Black Caucus organizes
1971 - Dr Melvin H Evans inaugurated as 1st elected governor
of Virgin Is
1971 - Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to relatives of Kent
State victims
1971 - Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium dedicated
1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit
at the Old Bailey in London.
1974 - Nixon refuses to hand over tapes subpoenaed by
Watergate Committee
1975 - "Good News" closes at St James Theater NYC
after 16 performances
1975 - "Gypsy" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC
after 120 performances
1975 - "Over Here" closes at Shubert Theater NYC
after 341 performances
1975 - Ford Executive Order on CIA Activities within the US
(No 11828)
1975 - Ice thickness measured at 4776 m, Wilkes Land,
Antarctica
1975 - Montreal Canadiens shutout Washington Capitals 10-0
1976 - "Candide" closes at Broadway Theater NYC
after 740 performances
Broadcast Journalist Walter CronkiteBroadcast Journalist
Walter Cronkite 1976 - "Home Sweet Homer" opens & closes at
Palace Theater NYC
1977 - Mary Shane hired by Chicago White Sox as 1st woman TV
play-by-play
1981 - "Frankenstein" opens & closes on
Broadway
1981 - "Peter Pan" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater
NYC after 578 performances
1981 - 69th Australian Mens Tennis: B Teacher beats Kim
Warwick (75 76 63)
1981 - British police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, the
"Yorkshire Ripper"
1982 - Bryant Gumbel became co-host of NBC's "Today
Show"
1982 - Chris Wallace becomes co-anchor of the Today Show
1982 - Golden Gate Bridge closed for 3rd time by fierce
storm
1982 - ABC Direction Network (57 affiliates) & ABC Rock
Network (40 affiliates) become the 5th & 6th ABC radio network
1983 - US Football League holds its 1st player draft
1984 - "Night Court" starring Harry Anderson
premieres on NBC TV
1984 - Edmonton beats Minnesota 12-8 highest-scoring modern
NHL game
1986 - David Boon's second Test century, 131 v India at
Adelaide
1986 - NCAA basketball's David Robinson blocks a record 14
shots
1987 - 16 die in a train crash in Chase Md
1989 - Comet Tempel 1 at perihelion
1989 - US F-14s shoot down 2 Libyan jet fighters over
Mediterranean
1989 - VP Bush is 1st since VP Van Buren to declare himself
president
1991 - AT&T workers in Newark accidentally snap a cable
1991 - Fu Mingxia, 12, of China wins World Swimming
Championships gold medal
1991 - Iraq agrees to send Aziz to Geneva to meet Baker on
Jan 9th
1991 - Jan Krzystof Bielecki becomes premier of Poland
1992 - 8th largest wrestling crowd (60,000-Tokyo Dome)
1993 - 7th largest wrestling crowd (63,500-Tokyo Dome)
1994 - 10th largest wrestling crowd (58,000-Tokyo Dome)
1995 - Newt Gingrich (R) becomes speaker of the House
1996 - "Father" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for
52 performances
1998 - "Funny Thing Happened," closes at St James
NYC after 715 perform
1998 - "Ivanov," closes at Vivian Beaumont Theater
NYC after 51 performances
1998 - "Triumph of Love," closes at Royale Theater
NYC
1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are
killed in three remote villages.
1998 - A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the
northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing
widespread destruction.
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn
in as governor of Minnesota.
1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an
Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.
2001 - Rapper Vanilla Ice spends night in jail after
allegedly ripping out some of his wife's hair during a row
2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars
at 04:35 UTC.
2006 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a
second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
2007 - The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing
Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.
2010 - The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building is
officially opened.
2010 - The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention removed HIV infection from its list of
communicable diseases of public health significance.
2013 - 9 people are killed by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria
2013 - 8 people are killed by a gunman in Kawit, the
Philippines
2013 - 6 people are killed a 2 are seriously injured after a
snowmobile veers off a ski slope on Mt Cermis, Italy
2013 - 3 people are killed after a Beechcraft BE35 crashes
into a house in Florida
1821 - The first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, MD. 1850 - The first American ice-skating club was organized in Philadelphia, PA. 1884 - The socialist Fabian Society was founded in London. 1885 - Dr. William Grant performed the first successful appendectomy. The patient was Mary Gartside. 1896 - Utah became the 45th U.S. state. 1928 - NBC Radio debuted "The Dodge Victory Hour" which starred Will Rogers, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra and singer Al Jolson. 1935 - Bob Hope was heard for the first time on network radio as part of "The Intimate Revue." 1936 - The first pop music chart based on national sales was published by "Billboard" magazine. 1944 - The attack on Monte Cassino was launched by the British Fifth Army in Italy. 1948 - Britain granted independence to Burma. 1951 - During the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul. 1953 - Tufted plastic carpeting was introduced by Barwick Mills. 1957 - "Collier’s" magazine was published for the last time. The periodical was published for 69 years. 1958 - The Soviet satellite Sputknik I fell to the earth from its orbit. The craft had been launched on October 4, 1957. 1960 - French author Albert Camus died in an automobile accident at age 46. 1962 - New York City introduced a train that operated without conductors and motormen. 1965 - The Fender Guitar Company was sold to CBS for $13 million. 1965 - Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76. 1965 - In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Johnson proclaimed the building of the "Great Society." 1972 - Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge in Britain at the Old Bailey, London. 1974 - U.S. President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. 1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game. 1981 - The Broadway show "Frankenstein" lost an estimated $2 million, when it opened and closed on the same night. 1982 - Bryant Gumbel moved from NBC Sports to the anchor desk where he joined Jane Pauley as co-host of the "Today" show on NBC. 1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date. 1987 - An Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail engines approaching from a side track, 16 people were killed. 1990 - Charles Stuart jumped to his death from a Boston Harbor bridge. He had become a suspect in the murder of his wife. He had claimed that a gunman had shot him and his wife. 1990 - Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was arraigned in U.S. federal district court in Miami on drug-trafficking charges. 1991 - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. 1997 - The Greek Cypriot government signed an agreement to buy S-300 surface-to-air missiles from Russia. 1999 - A drifting Nicaraguan fishing boat was found by the Norwegian oil tanker Joelm. The fisherman had been lost at sea for 35 days after the engine of their vessel quit working. 1999 - 16 people were killed and 25 injured when gunmen opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan. 1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 37th governor. 2001 - FBI agents in the Dallas area charged the "Texas 7" of unlawful flight to avoid federal prosecution for capital murder, broadening the manhunt nationwide. 2006 - Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first woman to hold the position. 2010 - In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) opened as the world's tallest tower at 2,625 feet.
1885 Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is thought to be the first appendectomy. 1896 Utah was admitted as 45th state in the United States. 1904 In Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely. 1948 Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Great Britain. 1951 During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul. 1965 President Johnson outlined his "Great Society" in his State of the Union address. 1999 Former wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's governor. 1999 The U.S. Mint began distributing the 50 State Quarters. 2007 California Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jan04.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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