| 1547 |
|
Ivan IV crowns himself the new Czar of Russia in Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. |
| 1786 |
|
The Council of Virginia guarantees religious freedom. |
| 1847 |
|
John C. Fremont, the famed “Pathfinder” of Western exploration, is appointed governor of California. |
| 1865 |
|
General William T. Sherman begins a march through the Carolinas. |
| 1900 |
|
The U.S. Senate recognizes the Anglo-German Treaty of 1899 by which the UK renounced its rights to the Samoan Islands. |
| 1909 |
|
One of Ernest Shackleton‘s polar exploration teams reaches the Magnetic South Pole. |
| 1914 |
|
Maxim Gorky is authorized to return to Russia after an eight year exile for political dissidence. |
| 1920 |
|
The League of Nations holds its first meeting in Paris. |
| 1920 |
|
Allies lift the blockade on trade with Russia. |
| 1939 |
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt asks for an extension of the Social Security Act to include more women and children. |
| 1940 |
|
Hitler cancels an attack in the West due to bad weather and the capture of German attack plans in Belgium. |
| 1942 |
|
Japan’s advance into Burma begins. |
| 1944 |
|
Eisenhower assumes supreme command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. |
| 1945 |
|
The U.S. First and Third armies link up at Houffalize, effectively ending the Battle of the Bulge. |
| 1956 |
|
The Egyptian government makes Islam the state religion. |
| 1965 |
|
Eighteen are arrested in Mississippi for the murder of three civil rights workers. |
| 1975 |
|
The Irish Republican Army calls an end to a 25-day cease fire in Belfast. |
| 1979 |
|
The Shah leaves Iran. |
| 1991 |
|
The Persian Gulf War begins. The massive
U.S.-led offensive against Iraq — Operation Desert Storm — ends on
February 28, 1991, when President George Bush declares a cease-fire, and
Iraq pledges to honor future coalition and U.N. peace terms. |
|
| Born on January 16 |
| 1757 |
|
Samuel McIntire, architect of Salem, Massachusetts. |
| 1749 |
|
Vittorio Alfieri, Italian tragic poet (Cleopatra, Parigi shastigliata). |
| 1821 |
|
John C. Breckinridge, 14th U.S. Vice President, Confederate Secretary of War. |
| 1909 |
|
Ethel Merman, U.S. singer and actress, the “Queen of Broadway.” |
| 1933 |
|
Susan Sontag, American essayist and novelist (The Style of Radical Will, Illness as a Metaphor). | |
