Remember When? -January 2010

January 1930

The first diesel engine automobile trip is completed (Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City). • The first literary character licensing agreement is signed by A. A. Milne, granting Stephen Slesinger U.S. and Canadian merchandising rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works. • January 13 – The Mickey Mouse comic strip makes its first appearance. •January 26 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence). January 30 – The first radiosonde is launched in Pavlovsk, USSR. •January 31 – The 3M company markets Scotch Tape.

January 1940

January 4 – WWII – (Axis powers): Luftwaffe General Hermann Göring assumes control of all war industries in Germany. • January 8 – WWII – Winter War – Battle of Suomussalmi: The Russian 44th Assault Division is destroyed by Finnish forces .• January 8 – WWII – Food rationing begins in Great Britain. • January 10 – WWII – Mechelen Incident: A German plane carrying secret plans for the invasion of western Europe creates a forced landing in Belgium, leading to mobilization of defense forces in the Low Countries.

January 1950

January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. • January 5 – U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of organized crime in the U.S. •January 6 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People’s Republic of China; the Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response. • January 17 – Great Brinks Robbery: 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car in Boston, Massachusetts. • January 21 – Accused communist spy Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury. • January 23 – The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. • January 26 – India promulgates its constitution, forming a republic, and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president. January 28 – Somaliland is put under Italian mandate. • January 29 – Lord Balfour criticizes the fact that rationing is still in force in Britain.

January 1960

January – The state of emergency is lifted in Kenya, officially ending the Mau Mau Uprising. Cameroon gains its independence. January 2 – U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• January 9–11 – Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt. • January 10 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech for the first time.
• January 14 – The Reserve Bank and Commonwealth Bank are created in Australia.
• January 19 – The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan is signed in Washington, DC. • January 21 – A mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa, killing 500. • January 22 –Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching the depth of 10,916 meters.• January 25 – In Washington, DC, the National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.

January 1970

January 5 – The first episode of All My Children is broadcast on the ABC television network. • January 5 – An earthquake (Richter Scale 7.7 magnitude) at Yunnan, China kills at least 15,621. • January 11 – Super Bowl IV: The Kansas City Chiefs beat the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings 23–7. •January 14 – Diana Ross & The Supremes perform their farewell live concert together at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, and Ross’s replacement, Jean Terrell, is introduced onstage at the end of the last show.
• January 15 – After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafran forces under Philip Effiong formally surrender to General Yakubu Gowon.• January 20 – The Greater London Council announces its plans for the Thames Barrier at Woolwich to prevent flooding (the barrier opens in 1981) .• January 21 – Five lifeboatmen are killed when the Fraserburgh lifeboat Duchess of Kent capsizes during a rescue off Kinnaird’s Head, Aberdeenshire. • January 26 – Mick Jagger is fined £200 for possession of cannabis

January 1980

January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. • January 6 – The president of Sicily, Piersanti Mattarella, is assassinated by the Mafia. • January 7 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation approving $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to bail out the Chrysler Corporation. • January 20 – Super Bowl XIV: The Pittsburgh Steelers become the first NFL franchise to win 4 Super Bowls, defeating the Los Angeles Rams 31–19 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. • January 22 – Andrei Sakharov, Soviet scientist and human rights activist, is arrested in Moscow. • January 26 – Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations. • January 27 – Canadian caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland. • January 31 – The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. It is called “Spain’s own Tehran”, similar to the 1979–80 Iran American U.S. Embassy Hostages of Americans.

January 1990

Jan. 7 – The Pisa tower closed. • January 10 – Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. • January 11 – Cold War: In Lithuania, 300,000 demonstrate for independence. • January 13 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia. • January 18 – In Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting. • January 20 – Cold War: Soviet troops occupy Baku, Azerbaijan, under the state of emergency decree issued by Gorbachev and kill over 130 and wound over 700 protesters for national independence. • Jan. 29: Captain is on trial for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. • January 27 – The city of Tiraspol in the Moldavian SSR briefly declares independence. •January 29 – The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America’s worst oil spill to date. • January 31 – Cold War: The first McDonald’s in Moscow, Russia opens.