Also on this day
American Revolution
1784
On this day in 1784, the Continental Congress ratifies the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence.
In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in...
Automotive
1920
John Dodge, who with his brother Horace co-founded the Dodge Brothers Company, which was once America’s third-largest automaker and later became part of Chrysler, dies at the age of 55.
John Francis Dodge was born on October 25, 1864, while his brother Horace Elgin Dodge arrived four years later, on May...
Civil War
1860
On this day in 1860, unable to agree on anything else, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee of Thirty-Three submits a proposed constitutional amendment protecting slavery in all areas where it already existed. The proposed measure was not enough to stem the tide of seceding states.
After the election of Republican...
Cold War
1980
In a crushing diplomatic rebuke to the Soviet Union, the U.N. General Assembly votes 104 to 18 to “deplore” the Russian intervention in Afghanistan.
The resolution also requested the “immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan.” The immense margin of victory for the resolution indicated the...
Crime
1741
Benedict Arnold, the American general during the Revolutionary War who betrayed his country and became synonymous with the word “traitor,” was born on this day in 1741.
Arnold, who was raised in a respected family in Norwich, Connecticut, apprenticed with an apothecary and was a member of the militia during the...
Disaster
1969
An explosion aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise kills 27 people in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on this day in 1969. A rocket accidentally detonated, destroying 15 planes and injuring more than 300 people.
The Enterprise was the first-ever nuclear-powered aircraft carrier when it was launched in 1960. It has eight nuclear...
General Interest
1639
In Hartford, Connecticut, the first constitution in the American colonies, the “Fundamental Orders,” is adopted by representatives of Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford.The Dutch discovered the Connecticut River in 1614, but English Puritans from Massachusetts largely accomplished European settlement of the region. During the 1630s, they flocked to the Connecticut valley...
1963
On January 14, 1963, George Wallace is inaugurated as the governor of Alabama, promising his followers, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” His inauguration speech was written by Ku Klux Klan leader Asa Carter, who later reformed his white supremacist beliefs and wrote The Education of Little Tree under the...
1980
After being released from government control, gold reaches a new record price on January 14, 1980, exceeding $800 an ounce.Gold is scattered sparsely throughout the earth’s crust and since ancient times has been treasured for both its scarcity and metallurgic properties. Before the 19th century, most nations maintained a bimetallic...
Hollywood
1954
It was the ultimate All-American romance: the tall, handsome hero of the country’s national pastime captures the heart of the beautiful, glamorous Hollywood star. But the brief, volatile marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio–the couple wed on this day in 1954–barely got past the honeymoon before cracks began to...
Literary
1894
On this day in 1894, Joseph Conrad returns to London to settle down after a long career at sea. There, he begins rewriting a story he had been working on during his travels, which becomes his first novel, Almayer’s Folly.
Conrad was born in Poland, as Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, the...
Music
1970
They were the most successful American pop group of the 1960s—a group whose 12 #1 hits in the first full decade of the rock and roll era places them behind only Elvis and the Beatles in terms of chart dominance. They helped define the very sound of the 60s, but...
Old West
1891
General Nelson Miles, commander of the U.S. Army troops in South Dakota, reports that the rebellious Sioux are finally returning to their reservation following the bloody massacre at Wounded Knee.
Since the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, Miles fought to force resistant Indians all across the nation to give up...
Presidential
1784
On this day in 1784, at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, the Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris. The document, negotiated in part by future President John Adams, contained terms for ending the Revolutionary War and established the United States as a sovereign nation. The treaty outlined...
1942
On this day in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring aliens from World War II-enemy countries–Italy, Germany and Japan–to register with the United States Department of Justice. Registered persons were then issued a Certificate of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationality. A follow-up to the...
1943
On this day in 1943, Franklin Roosevelt becomes the first president to travel on official business by airplane. Crossing the Atlantic by air, Roosevelt flew in a Boeing 314 Flying Boat dubbed the Dixie Clipper to a World War II strategy meeting with Winston Churchill at Casablanca in North Africa....
Sports
1973
On January 14, 1973, the Miami Dolphins defeat the Washington Redskins 14-7 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Super Bowl VII, becoming the first team in National Football League (NFL) history to finish with an undefeated season.
Despite their perfect regular season record, Coach Don Shula’s Dolphins were three-point underdogs in...
Vietnam War
1964
Lt. Gen. William Westmoreland is appointed deputy to Gen. Paul Harkins, chief of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). It was generally accepted that Westmoreland would soon replace Harkins, whose insistently optimistic views on the progress of the war had increasingly come under criticism.
On June 20, 1964, Harkins departed...
1968
U.S. joint-service Operation Niagara is launched to support the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh.
The Khe Sanh base was the westernmost anchor of a series of combat bases and strongholds that stretched from the Cua Viet River on the coast of the South China Sea westward along Route 9 to...
World War I
1915
As part of an attempt to display its loyalty to the British empire and, perhaps more importantly, enlarge its own sphere of influence on the African continent, South Africa sends troops to occupy Swakopmund, a seaside town in German-occupied Southwest Africa (modern-day Namibia). When war broke out in 1914,...
World War II
1942
On this day, the United States and Great Britain agree to have the British Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Joint Chiefs work together, either through meetings or representatives, to advise the leaders of both nations on military policy during the war.
During the Arcadia Conference, which began on December 22,...
1943
On this day, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt meet in Casablanca, Morocco, along with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war. This meeting marked the first time an American president left American soil during wartime. Participants also...
