Lost and Found – January 31st Edition

What to remember about January 31st…

• 1606  Guy Fawkes, chief conspirator in the “Gunpowder Plot” to blow up parliament and the king, jumps to his death on the way to his execution
• 1752  Founding Father, lawmaker, and “Penman of the Constitution”  Gouverneur Morris is born in New York City (d. 1816)
• 1865  13th Amendment to the Constitution in passed by Congress; it will be ratified and adopted by December; outlaws slavery in America
• 1915  Germany attempts 1st large-scale use of chemical weapons on the battlefield; freezing temperatures and wind render poison gas ineffective – this time
• 1945  Private Eddie Slovik becomes 1st and only U.S. soldier executed for desertion during WWII; Civil War was last time deserters executed
• 1950  President Truman announces that U.S. will develop a new generation of atomic weapons now that Soviets have the bomb; hydrogen bomb is coming
• 1958  NASA successfully launches its 1st satellite into orbit; Explorer 1
• 1971  NASA launches Apollo 14 from Cape Canaveral beginning 3rd mission to land men on the Moon; Shepard, Roosa, and Mitchell aboard
• 1995  President Clinton authorizes $20 billion loan to Mexico in attempt to prevent economic collapse that could impact U.S. markets
• 2001  Libyan terrorist Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is convicted by Scottish court for role in 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 that killed 270; “terminally ill” and facing imminent death he is released on compassionate grounds in 2009; still alive as of this writing

Lost and Found – January 30th Edition

What to remember about January 30th…

• 1703  In Japan the Forty-seven Ronin avenge the death of their master in an attack that took 2-years to plan and execute
• 1781  Maryland is 13th and final state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, does so only after Virginia gives up claims to western lands
• 1835  Deranged Richard Lawrence is 1st to attempt to assassinate an American president; Andrew Jackson escapes injury when attackers pistols misfires
• 1862  America’s 1st “ironclad” warship USS Monitor is commissioned
• 1882  Future 32nd President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt is born in Hyde Park, New York (d. 1945)
• 1933  German president Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler to be chancellor
• 1945  While evacuating civilians during operation Hannibal, German transport ship MV Wilhelm Gustav is sunk by Soviet submarine, over 9000 civilians die
• 1945  126 American Army Rangers and Filipino scouts rescue almost 500 POW’s from Japanese prison camp in Raid at Cabanatuan
• 1948  Political and spiritual leader of Indian independence movement Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi assassinated by Hindu fanatic (b. 1869)
• 1956  Home of Martin Luther King Jr. is bombed in response to Bus Boycott
• 1968  Massive surprise attacks across the country mark beginning of the Tet Offensive; ultimately a failure for North Vietnam, public loses confidence in President Lyndon Johnson’s promises of rapid resolution of Vietnam conflict
• 1972  British soldiers shoot 30 unarmed protesters in Londonderry, Northern Ireland killing 13; “Bloody Sunday” leads to IRA bombing campaign
• 2006  Civil rights activist and widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Coretta Scott King dies (b. 1927)

Lost and Found – January 29th Edition

What to remember about January 29th…

• 1843  Future 25th President William McKinley is born Miles, Ohio (d. 1901); succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt after his assassination
• 1845  Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven” is 1st published
• 1861  Kansas enters the Union as the 34th state; slave-free state
• 1886  Karl Benz, founder of Mercedes-Benz, patents the 1st successful gasoline powered automobile
• 1891  Last monarch of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani ascends to the throne
• 1936  Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York inducts 1st members: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson
• 1954  American actress, talk show host, and philanthropist Orpah Gail “Oprah” Winfrey is born in Kosciusko, Mississippi
• 1991  Battle of Khafji is 1st major ground engagement of the Persian Gulf War; Iraqi forces invade Saudi Arabia but are beaten off by coalition forces
• 1998  Bomb explodes at abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama; Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Robert Rudolf kills 1 and wounds 2
• 2002  President George W. Bush makes “Axis of Evil” State of the Union Address; declares Iraq, Iran, and North Korea major threats to world security

Lost and Found – January 28th Edition

What to remember about January 28th…

• 1777  British General Burgoyne develops plan to invade colonies and cut New England off from the south; poor planning leads to Patriot victory at Saratoga
• 1902  Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded with gift of $10 million from Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie
• 1915  German cruiser sinks unarmed American freighter because they fail to jettison “contraband” cargo of wheat bound for England
• 1915  President Wilson signs act merging Revenue Cutter Service with Life-Saving Service to create the modern United States Coast Guard
• 1959  Football great Vince Lombardi is signed to coach the Green Bay Packers
• 1973  Cease-fire goes into effect in Vietnam as U.S. pulls out
• 1980  USCGC Blackthorn collides with tanker Capricorn in Tampa Bay; though lightly damaged, entangled Blackthorn capsizes and 23 of 50 aboard are killed
• 1985  45 pop music icons gather in one studio to record “We Are The World”; charity album will raise millions to alleviate African famine
• 1986  NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73-seconds after launch, astronauts Jarvis, McAuliffe, McNair, Onizuka, Resnik, Smith, and Scobee are all killed

Lost and Found – January 27th Edition

What to remember about January 27th…

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

• 1756  Musical prodigy and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Austria (d. 1791)
• 1776  Expedition of Colonel Henry Knox finishes 3-month trek through frozen countryside with 60-tons of captured British artillery
• 1785  Georgia incorporates 1st state-funded university; it is first named Franklin College and will become University of Georgia
• 1862  President Lincoln attempts to command Union forces into action by issuing General War Order No. 1; finds tactics better left to the soldiers
• 1888  33 explorers, geographers, scientists, soldiers, and teachers meet in Washington, D.C. to found the National Geographic Society
• 1939  1st flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter-bomber
• 1943  Over 90 bombers strike U-Boat construction yards; first attack by American aircraft on Germany
• 1967  Fire aboard NASA’s Apollo 1 spacecraft during simulation kills astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee
• 1973  Paris Peace Accords are signed; President Nixon’s promise fulfilled as American participation in Vietnam War officially ends
• 1998  First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appears on “Today” show and declares “vast right-wing conspiracy” behind her husband’s impeachment

Lost and Found – January 26th Edition

What to remember about January 26th…

• 1784  Benjamin Franklin writes letter to his daughter Sarah stating his displeasure at choice of Bald Eagle as American symbol; turkey was his preference
• 1788  First fleet carrying convict settlers arrives in Australia to establish penal colony; celebrated as Australia Day
• 1837  Michigan enters the Union as 26th state
• 1861  Louisiana secedes from the Union
• 1870  Virginia rejoins the Union
• 1945  Army 2nd Lt. Audie Murphy is wounded (again) while guarding the retreat of his outnumbered troops; will be awarded Medal of Honor
• 1945  Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland and take control of the network of Nazi concentration camps and uncover evidence of atrocities
• 1950  India becomes an independent nation and worlds largest democracy as constitution goes into effect; celebrated as Republic Day
• 1961  Janet G. Travell becomes physician to President Kennedy; 1st woman to hold this post
• 1970  U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Everett Alvarez, Jr. spends 2000th day as a POW in Vietnam; will not be released until 1973; longest held U.S. POW in history
• 1980  U.S. Olympic Committee votes to ask IOC to move or cancel Moscow Olympics in response to invasion of Afghanistan
• 1998  President Bill Clinton goes on TV and denies having “sexual relations” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky
• 2005  Condoleezza Rice is appointed Secretary of State by President George Bush; highest cabinet post ever held by an African-American woman

Lost and Found – January 25th Edition

What to remember about January 25th…

• 1863  Union General Ambrose Burnside removed from command of Army of the Potomac after only 2 months
• 1919  Peace conference delegates establish commission to create League of Nations; President Wilson insists on chairmanship
• 1924  1st Winter Olympics begin; called “International Winter Sports Week” until IOC recognized in 1928
• 1949  Notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone dies at home in bed from complications of neurosyphilis (1899)
• 1949  Emmy Awards ceremony held for 1st time; gala takes place at Hollywood Athletic Club
• 1971  Charles Manson and 3 followers are convicted for murders of 7 people while attempting to spark a “race war”
• 1971   Idi Amin leads coup and takes control of Uganda
• 1980  After 9-days in jail, former Beatles member Paul McCartney is released from Japanese prison and deported for drug smuggling
• 1993  Pakistani gunman Aimal Kasi goes on shooting spree outside CIA headquarters in Virginia killing 2 and wounding 3 before escaping the country; convicted and later executed by lethal injection
• 2011  “Day of Revolt” demonstrations break out in Egypt protesting government of Hosni Mubarak; Arab Spring begins

Lost and Found – January 24th Edition

What to remember about January 24th…

• 1781  Patriot militia led by the Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion and “Light Horse” Henry Lee raid Georgetown, S.C. and capture British officers
• 1848  Gold is discovered in Sacramento Valley along Sutter’s Creek; California gold rush soon sparked
• 1908  Sir Robert Baden-Powell publishes 1st installment of Scouting for Boys; Scouting movement begins
• 1943  German General Friedrich von Paulus requests permission from Hitler to surrender his surrounded forces at Battle of Stalingrad
• 1961  B-52 bomber  with its payload of Mark-39 nuclear bombs crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina
• 1965  WWII British Prime Minister, historian, and soldier Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill dies in London (b. 1874)
• 1972  WWII Imperial Japanese Army sergeant is discovered hiding on Guam ; he has been hiding for 28 years
• 1980  Administration of President Carter announces sales of military equipment and technology to China
• 1989  Serial killer and rapist Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy dies in electric chair in Florida (b. 1946)

Lost and Found – January 23rd Edition

What to remember about January 23rd…

National Pie Day (USA)

• 1737  American merchant, statesman, and signer of the Declaration of Independence John Hancock is born in Braintree, Massachusetts (d. 1793)
• 1789  Georgetown College is founded in Maryland as the 1st Catholic University in America
• 1849  Elizabeth Blackwell becomes 1st woman M.D. in America; she and her sister (later an M.D. also) found clinic for women in New York
• 1865  One-legged Confederate General John Bell Hood removed from command of the Army of Tennessee after series of disastrous failures
• 1922  Insulin used on human subject for 1st time in treatment for diabetes; discovery given away royalty-free to the world
• 1957 Wham-O produces the first plastic flying discs; the modern Frisbee is born; invented by William Frisbee in 1871
• 1964  24th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified; right to vote in federal election may not be denied by failure to pay tax
• 1968  Electronic intelligence gathering ship USS Pueblo is seized by North Korea; accused of spying, 83 crew are held for almost a year
• 1973  President Nixon announces that peace agreement has been reached with North Vietnam; signing to take place January 27th
• 1986  Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame recognizes its 1st inductees; among them Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and Buddy Holly
• 1991  Police cruiser dashboard camera records murder of Texas lawman during traffic stop; tape convicts 3 assailants at trial
• 2002  “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh returns to U.S. in FBI custody; captured in Afghanistan fighting against U.S. troops
• 2002  Journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped by Islamic terrorists and later beheaded on camera by his captors

Lost and Found – January 22nd Edition

What to remember about January 22nd…

• 1740  Patriot General and spy Noah Phelps is born in Simsbury, Connecticut; infiltrated Ft. Ticonderoga alone to help plan its capture
• 1840  1st British settlers arrive in New Zealand near Auckland
• 1879  Battle of Rorke’s Drift; 139 British troops hold off over 4000 Zulu warriors
• 1890  United Mine Workers of America is founded in Ohio
• 1901  Queen Victoria of Great Britain dies ending her 63-year reign
• 1917  In his address to the U.S. Senate, President Woodrow Wilson proposes “peace without victory” in effort to end World War I
• 1957  George P. “Mad Bomber” Metesky arrested in Connecticut; planted more than 30 bombs in New York area over 16 years
• 1970  Boeing 747 “jumbo jet” makes 1st scheduled commercial flight
• 1973  Supreme Court rules to decriminalize abortion with their decision in Roe v. Wade; over 50 million abortions since this decision
• 1973  Former President Lyndon B. Johnson dies at home in Texas (b. 1908)
• 1998  Murderer and serial bomber Theodore “Ted” J. Kaczynski pleads guilty to 17 years of Unabomber attacks; sentenced to life in prison
• 2008  Australian-born, Oscar-nominated actor Heath Ledger dies abusing prescription medications
• 2009  President Barack Obama announces he will sign an order to close Guantanamo Bay detention center for terrorist suspects within the year