Jan. 8
1790: President George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York City.
1815: The last major engagement of the War of 1812 ended as U.S. forces defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, unaware that a peace treaty had been signed the previous December.
1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.”
Jan. 9
1861: Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union as the Star of the West, a merchant ship carrying reinforcements to Fort Sumter, South Carolina, retreated after coming under artillery fire.
1916: The World War I Battle of Gallipoli ended with an Ottoman Empire victory as Allied forces withdrew.
2007: Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at the Macworld conference in San Francisco.
Jan. 10
1776: Thomas Paine anonymously published his influential pamphlet “Common Sense,” arguing for American independence from British rule.
1861: Florida became the third state to secede from the Union ahead of the Civil War.
1920: The League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.
Jan. 11
1861: Alabama became the fourth state to secede from the Union.
1908: The Grand Canyon was established as a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt.
1935: Aviator Amelia Earhart began what would be the first solo flight from Hawaii to California, completing the 2,400-mile journey to Oakland in just under 19 hours.
1964: U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report concluding that cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from specific diseases and to the overall death rate.
Jan. 12
1915: The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to grant women nationwide the right to vote.
1932: Hattie W. Caraway of Arkansas became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
1959: Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records, originally known as Tamla Records, in Detroit.
1966: “Batman” premiered on ABC, starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
Jan. 13
1733: James Oglethorpe and about 120 English colonists arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, en route to settle in what is now Georgia.
1794: President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union. (The number of stripes was later reduced to 13.)
1979: Singer Donny Hathaway, known for his duets with Roberta Flack and the song “This Christmas,” died in a fall from a New York hotel window at age 34.
Jan. 14
1784: The United States ratified the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War; Britain followed suit in April.
1858: Napoleon III survived an assassination attempt by an Italian revolutionary who threw explosives at the emperor’s carriage in Paris. Though bystanders were killed, the emperor and his wife were unharmed.
1952: NBC’s “Today” show premiered with host Dave Garroway.
1967: The “Summer of Love” unofficially began with a “Human Be-In” at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
