On December 30, 1965, former Philippines Senate President Ferdinand Marcos is elected President of the island nation. Marcos will serve 20 years as president, his administration becoming increasingly authoritative and corrupt over that time. He and his wife Imelda would eventually be forced to flee the country in 1986 after the military turned on him in the wake of a controversial re-election. On December 30, 1953, RCA's CT-100, the first mass-produced color television set, begins arriving in stores. It has a price tag of $1,175. Two days later, NBC (owned by RCA), will present the first nationwide color TV broadcast, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA. On December 30, 1979, Wayne Gretzky's scores the 50th goal of his NHL career, just 39 games into the season. He becomes the fastest in NHL history to reach the 50 goal mark; previous record holders Maurice "The Rocket" Richard and Mike Bossy needed 50 games to score 50. Gretzky will win the first of his 8 consecutive MVP awards, but is denied Rookie of the Year because he had played two seasons for his current team, the Edmonton Oilers, in the now-defunct WHA.
On December 31, 1775, a last-ditch effort by Colonial forces to capture the British fortress city of Quebec fails. The Colonials, commanded by General Richard Montgomery, had laid siege to the city for nearly a month. Knowing the enlistments of most of his command of 900 volunteers would expire the following day, Montgomery orders a frontal assault, which fails. About 60 men, including Montgomery, are killed and about 400 are captured. The remainder, shepherded by Montgomery's exec, Colonel Benedict Arnold, escape across the St. Lawrence River. Arnold is last to leave Canada. On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I grants charter to the East India Company, an alliance of merchants, in hopes of breaking the Dutch monopoly in the spice trade with Indonesia. In that mission it failed, but the EIC soon became the dominant traders in Indian textiles and Chinese tea, so much so, that by early 18th century it was operating almost as its own country, including its own navy and army, and essentially managed the crown's colonial interests in India. By the 1770's the EIC had become so powerful that Parliament began passing legislation to rein in the company. Even so, the East India Company maintained a powerful presence in the Eastern Hemisphere until it was dissolved in 1873. On December 31, 1985, former teen idol Ricky Nelson is killed in a plane crash near De Kalb, Texas. The real-life son of early TV sitcom stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson was already a child star thanks to that program, and the star got brighter when he sang a song, accompanying himself on guitar, on an episode of the show. Between 1957 and 1962, Nelson hit the pop charts 30 times; only Elvis and Pat Boone were more successful. Pushed out of the limelight by the British invasion, Nelson enjoyed a minor comeback in the mid-70s. He was travelling to a show in Dallas when his chartered plane caught fire for unknown reasons, killing all 7 people aboard. In 1987, Nelson was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
On January 1, 45 B.C., .... well, it is the first January 1, as the Roman Empire begins following the Julian calendar. The old Roman calendar had followed the lunar cycle for 7 centuries, but needed continuous adjusting as the calendar fell out of synch with the seasons. Emperor Julius Caesar consulted an astronomer named Sosigenes, who recommended a calendar following the solar cycle. The Julian Calendar remained in effect until it was realized in the 1570's that Sosigenes' and Caesar's calculation of a solar year was off by 11 minutes. A new calendar commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII and drawn up by Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius took effect on January 10, 1582, resetting that date to January 1. And here we are. On January 1, 1781, 1,500 soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line - all 11 regiments of General Anthony Wayne's command - mutiny and kill 3 of their officers, saying their enlistments had expired. In NYC, British General Henry Clinton immediately sent emissaries to the mutineers to inquire about free agency, offering back pay and a full pardon to any man who joined his command. Instead, the men took the emissaries captive and, after occupying Princeton, NJ, turned them over to General Wayne. Impressed with the show of good faith, Congress agreed not to charge the mutineers and offered bonuses to any who would re-enlist. About half accepted. On January 1, 1915, the audience at the Loring Opera House in Riverside, CA previews director D.W. Griffith's first feature-length film, The Clansman. It will be released to a national audience later in the year, renamed, The Birth of a Nation. Despite its controversial nature - the NAACP called its theme of glorifying the Ku Klux Klan's actions during Reconstruction "three hours of filth," The Birth of a Nation is Hollywood's first bona fide hit, generating $10 million (about $200 million in today's dollars) in revenue. Interesting side note: the Loring Opera House, sold, renovated and renamed the Golden State Theatre a few years later, would also be the site of the first preview showing of Gone With the Wind. 1915: The Birth of a Nation - Hollywood's first motion picture - YouTube
On January 2, 1923, Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall resigns amidst public outrage over the Teapot Dome scandal. A successful New Mexico businessman who won one of the new state's first U.S. Senate seats in 1912, Fall quickly fell into the trap of enjoying political power too much. Appointed Secretary by President Harding in 1921, Fall's duties included management of the government's vast land holdings in the west. He declared a large oil deposit under Teapot Dome in Wyoming to be a government reserve, but allowed some private drilling in the area. It was later learned that Fall accepted "loans" from some of these same oilmen to prop up his own failing business interests. Fall insisted one had nothing to do with the other, but nevertheless resigned under pressure from conservationists and government reformers. On January 2, 1492, the kingdom of Granada falls to the Christian forces of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I, and the Moors lose their last foothold in Spain. The Moorish had established Granada as a fortress city in Southern Spain in the late 11th century. Ten years after Granada's conquest, the Spanish crown ordered all Muslims forcible converted to Christianity. On January 2, 1897, the SS Commodore, a small steamer flying the U.S. flag, sinks off the coast of Florida en route to Cuba. Among the 4 survivors is 25-year old Stephen Crane, a newspaper reporter who had gained fame a year earlier with his novel "The Red Badge of Courage", a first person account of the Civil War. Crane was headed for Cuba to cover the growing insurrection against Spain there for a New York newspaper. Crane, the captain of the Commodore and one of the other two survivors endured 30 hours in an open dinghy before being rescued; the fourth man died during the ordeal. Five days after the rescue, Scribner's magazine published "The Open Boat', Crane's short story account of the shipwreck and rescue.
On January 3, 1861, the Delaware state legislature rejects a resolution of secession from the Union. South Carolina had become the first state to secede two weeks earlier. Although slavery was legal in Delaware, it was only practiced in a few of its southernmost counties, and there were roughly 12 times the number of free blacks living in the state as there were slaves. On January 3, 1945, President Eisenhower signs a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union. The purchase of Alaska from the Russians in 1867 had increased America's land size by 20%. With statehood, Alaska becomes the largest state, more than twice as large as the previously-largest state, Texas. On January 3, 1946, William Joyce is hanged to death by a British war tribunal for treason. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Ireland, Joyce was a senior member of a British Fascist Party and fled the country under threat of internment in 1939. Not long after that, BBC officials noted a change in the voice of "Lord Haw Haw," a German radio announcer who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the British Isles in a comically-exaggerated British accent. Although no single announcer was ever conclusively identified as "Lord Haw Haw," (there may have been as many as six different announcers) historians believe Joyce to be the most prominent. Captured just as the war ended, Joyce argued at trial that he could not be charged with treason as he was not a British citizen. The prosecution successfully countered that Joyce carried a British passport and had voted in British elections, and therefore owed allegiance to the crown. Lord Haw Haw - Hitler's English Voice - YouTube
On January 4, 1642, King Charles I of England orders five ministers of Parliament's House of Commons arrested on charges of treason. Parliament refused to recognize the charges and the ministers escape. Distrust between Charles and the Parliament has been brewing for years, and will erupt into civil war before this year is over. On January 4, 2007, Nancy Pelosi (D-California) becomes Congress' first female Speaker of the House. Pelosi was 1st elected to Congress in 1987, was elevated to Party Whip in 2001 and became House Minority Leader in 2003. On January 4, 1847, the U.S. military awards a contract to gunmaker Samuel Colt to provide his .44 calibre revolving handgun to the army. Pistols had been on the whole unreliable and inaccurate until Colt introduced his "revolver" in 1836. It's design allowed for the user to fire 6 shots before reloading; all previous handguns had been single-load. Colt's handgun also had a rifled barrel, improving accuracy. Nevertheless, it was too expensive for the masses to afford, and Colt was nearly bankrupt before the army began buying his guns.
