Today in history: On Jan. 17, 1377, Pope Gregory XI moved the Papacy from Avignon back to Rome. In 1773, Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook, became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle. In 1821, Mexico allowed Moses Austin and 300 American families to settle in Texas. In 1863, a Civil War skirmish occurred near Newtown, Va. In 1928, a patent was granted for the first-ever fully automatic machine for photographic film processing. In 1899, the U.S. took possession of Wake Island. In 1912, Captain Robert Scotts expedition arrived at the South Pole. In 1917, the U.S. paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands. In 1920, it was the first day of Prohibition in the U.S. In 1929, Popeye the Sailor Man first appeared in a Thimble Theatre comic strip. In 1944, during World War II, the British corvette HMS Violet sank the German submarine U-641 in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1946, the United Nations Security Council held its first- ever meeting. In 1950, in The Great Brinks Robbery, 11 men stole $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in securities from Brinks offices in Boston, Mass. In 1951, China refused a cease-fie proposal in the Korean War. In 1955, the U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus began its first nuclear-powered test voyage. In 1962, a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress and a KC-135 air refueling tanker collided and crashed near Palomares, Spain, killing 7 service members. In 1969, Led Zeppelin released its debut album in the U.S. In 1976, I Write the Songs, by Barry Manilow, became the No. 1 song in the U.S. In 1978, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a secret order permitting the covert sale of arms to Iran. In 1991, Iraq fired 8 Scud missiles into Israel; and Operation Desert Strom began. In 1994, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Los Angeles, Calif., killing 60 and causing $30 billion in damages. In 1995, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake destroyed the city of Kobe, Japan, killing 5,372 residents. In 1996, the Czech Republic applied for membership in the European Union. In 1997, Dennis Rodman was suspended for kicking a cameraman two days earlier during a game in Minnesota. In 2013, the Syrian army massacred 106 people in Homs; and 33 people were killed by a series of bombs across Iraq. And in 2014, a suicide bomber killed 21 people at a restaurant in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 18:36:43 +0000
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