This day in history...

On January 13, 1982, an Air Florida Boeing 737 crashes into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River just 2 miles from the White House. All but six of the 79 people aboard are killed, and 4 motorists crossing the bridge die as well. Takeoff of the flight for Ft. Lauderdale, FL had been delayed on the runway threshold nearly an hour by winter weather, and not wanting to cause further delays, the pilot and co-pilot agreed not to return to the terminal for de-icing. The plane crashed less than a mile after leaving the runway.


On January 13, 1128, Pope Honorius II grants papal sanction to the Knights Templar, declaring it to be an Army of God. Organized by nine noblemen of France 10 years earlier, the Knights Templar had taken upon themselves the task of protecting Christians travelling in pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The society would grow rapidly in size, power and wealth, so much so that French King Phillip VI and Pope Clement V combined in jealousy to dissolve them over a five-year period beginning in 1307. Legends that the Knights Templar discovered and hid away numerous holy relics, including the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, continue to this day.


On January 13, 1929, Wyatt Earp dies peacefully in Los Angeles, at the age of 80. The legendary Wild West lawman and hero of the Gunfight at the OK Corral had become a bit of a drifter after the 1881 murder of his brother Morgan. Still a deputized marshal at the time of Morgan's death, Wyatt sought vengeance rather than justice and was forced to flee Arizona after one of Morgan's suspected murderers turned up dead. In his later years, Wyatt ran a saloon in San Francisco, raised racehorses in San Diego, and took part in two Northwest gold rushes before settling in LA and finding work as a consultant on western movies in the growing Hollywood film industry. He also tried unsuccessfully to find a publisher interested in his colorful life, and it would not be until a biography was written and published shortly after his death that Earp achieved true nationwide fame.

 

On January 14, 1639, representatives of the towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, Connecticut adopt the "Fundamental Orders." Written mostly by Hartford lawyer Roger Ludlow, it is the first constitution of government approved in colonial America, and the first known document to put forth the concept that "the foundation of authority is in the free consent of the people." The Fundamental Orders will be replaced by the Charter of Connecticut in 1662.

On January 14, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt lands at Casablanca in North Africa for a strategic meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The flight from Florida took 4 days with numerous fuel and rest stops, and marks the first time a president has flown to a destination on official business (cousin Theodore had become the first president to ride in an airplane in 1913). Roosevelt's handlers decided, with U-boats still heavily active in the Atlantic, air travel was safer than an ocean voyage on this occasion.


January 14, 1954 sees one of the most famed celebrity weddings in American history; New York Yankees star Joe DiMaggio marries Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe. DiMaggio sought out an introduction to Monroe through a mutual friend two years before and the two nurtured a relationship as far from the public eye as was possible, rarely going out together in public before their marriage. The wedding plans were leaked to the press and the couple was mobbed by reporters outside San Francisco's City Hall following the civil ceremony. But the romance began to unravel even before their honeymoon was done. Joe was rankled when Marilyn was called away from their honeymoon in Japan to visit troops in South Korea. The tension continued to build, mostly due to Joe's irritation with Marilyn's sexy image, and the kettle blew when Joe was on set and offended when Marilyn filmed the famous skirt-blowing scene for "The Seven Year Itch." The couple divorced in October after barely 10 months of marriage. They remained good friends however, and following her death in 1961, DiMaggio arranged her funeral and reportedly sent roses to her grave several times a week faithfully until his own death in 1999.

 

On January 15, 1831, French author Victor Hugo completes Notre Dame de Paris, also known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Although the action of the novel centers around the relationship between a young street dancer and the deformed bell ringer of Notre Dame cathedral, Hugo would state that he really wrote the book as a celebration of Gothic architecture, many Parisian examples of which were beginning to decay following the French Revolution. In that, he was successful, as the popularity of the book would elevate Notre Dame to national landmark status.


On January 15, 1967 in Los Angeles, the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10, in the first NFL-AFL World Championship Game. Team owners of the American Football League, led by Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, had petitioned for an overall championship game with the established National Football League since the new league's emergence in 1960. In '66, with talks for merging the two leagues already underway, the NFL agreed to the matchup. The Packers, NFL champs in 5 of the previous 7 seasons, led just 14-10 at halftime, but blew out the younger Chiefs in the second half. The Championship Game would be renewed the following year, but given a new name, the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl I: The First AFL-NFL Championship Game | Chiefs vs. Packers | NFL - YouTube

On January 15, 1919, the city of Boston suffers the Great Molasses Flood. At the United States Industrial Alcohol Company in the heart of the city, a 58-foot storage tank fails and its contents - 2.5 million gallons of heated crude molasses - floods out. Twenty-one people and scores of horses in the building and on the adjoining streets are killed, and dozens injured. It would take city workers weeks to cleanse the streets of the sticky substance. The lawsuits that followed would find the company at fault for not using a tank of sufficient strength to contain the molasses, and USIAC would pay out nearly a million dollars in damages.

 

On January 16, 1861, the Senate rejects a series of amendments offered by Kentucky Senator John Crittenden, intended to appease Southern states considering secession. Four states had already seceded when the Crittenden Compromise - which re-established the Missouri Compromise border line that prohibited slavery north of latitude 36 30', forbade federal interference in the slave trade and compensated slave owners whose slaves escaped - was introduced. Crittenden thought his bills would avert civil war, but northern Republicans felt they were being asked to make all the compromises, while the south was asked for nothing, and voted it down 25-23.


On January 16, 1945 with Russian forces beginning to encircle Berlin, Adolph Hitler retreats into his bunker under the chancellery. It is 105 days before he takes his own life. Except for brief excursions for exercise and fresh air, Hitler and his companion and wife-to-be Eva Braun would live their remaining days 55 feet underground, emerging only once for official business, to decorate a group of Nazi Youths. (model shows the layout of Hitler's underground bunker)



On January 16, 1942, popular actress Carole Lombard is killed when the TWA DC-3 on which she is a passenger crashes en route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. She was 33 years old. Lombard, the wife of superstar actor Clarke Gable, had built her own stardom mostly in comedies like To Be or Not To Be and My Man Godfrey. She had just concluded a war bonds tour of her home state of Indiana and was returning home when she was killed. Gable was reportedly hysterical with grief over the loss of his 2nd wife and went on a long drinking binge before enlisting in the Army Air Corps later that year. Although he would marry twice more before his death in 1960, his will would stipulate that his final resting place be beside Lombard.

 

On January 17, 1781, a force of a little over a thousand colonials and militiamen under General Dan Morgan decimate a Redcoat force of similar size at Cowpens, South Carolina. It is the colonials first decisive victory over the British without the advantage of an outside factor, like surprise or geography. Morgan instructed his leading elements to fire two volleys and then retreat. British Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, believing a rout was on, charged and ran headlong into the main body of Morgan's force. Tarleton was among the few who escaped. About half were captured, and 300 were killed or wounded. The Americans suffered only 12 dead and about 60 wounded.


On January 17, 1994, former Arkansas state clerk Paula Jones files a lawsuit for sexual harassment and defamation against President Bill Clinton, seeking $700,000 in damages. The offenses allegedly occurred while Clinton was governor of Arkansas. The courts first ruled that a sitting president could not be put on trial, but when SCOTUS overturned, Clinton managed to have the trial postponed until after the 1996 presidential election. Clinton eventually settled with Jones for $850,000 in exchange for the suit being dropped, but investigations led to independent counsel's discovery of the relationship between Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and figured in Clinton's subsequent impeachment.


On January 17, 1916, a group of golf club professionals and amateur golfers meet for the first time at Taplow Club in New York City. The group, organized by businessman and golf amateur Rodman Wanamaker, will meet several times over the next four months, the summit concluding in April with the formation of the Professional Golf Association. The group would hold the first PGA Championship tournament the following October at Siwanoy CC in New York, with Jock Hutchinson winning the title. The PGA has since grown into one of the world's largest professional sports organizations, and the Wanamaker Trophy, awarded to the winner of the PGA Championship, has become one of the world's most prestigious awards.

 

On January 18, 1918, leaders of the Allied powers convene in France to begin negotiating the end of World War I. It will take nearly 6 months to hammer out the Treaty of Versailles, with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson giving in to European leaders' demand that Germany surrender, in exchange for their support of his League of Nations concept. (Wilson had envisioned a "peace without victory" concept going in to the conference).

On January 18, 1950, China and the Soviet Union recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Both nations would provide the new Communist regime with massive military aid - an estimated $20 billion worth - over the next 20 years, giving North Vietnam the means to fight the French and, later, the Americans.

On January 18, 1958, Willie O'Ree takes the ice for the Boston Bruins as the first black man to play in the National Hockey League. The Canadian born O'Ree played 19 years in the pros despite an injury early in his career that left him almost totally blind in one eye. Called up from the Bruins to sub for an injured player, O'Ree skated in two games without making a statistical play, before being sent back down to the minors.

 

On January 19, 1966, Indira Gandhi ascends to the office of Prime Minister of India, that nation's first female head of state. Very popular with her people at first, Gandhi was re-election by an overwhelming margin in 1971, but regional issues led to civil unrest and her defeat in 1977. Re-elected in 1981, she began having difficulty with the Sikh secessionist movement, which arranged her assassination in 1984.


On January 19, 1986, Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi, two brothers running a computer store in Pakistan, respond to information that medical software they wrote is being illegally distributed. They create a subroutine in the software that renames the boot drive of the computer in which it is installed. Users will see this message pop up on their screen:
Welcome to the Dungeon © 1986 Brain & Amjads (pvt). BRAIN COMPUTER SERVICES 730 IZANAMI
BLOCK ALLAMA IQBAL TOWN LAHORE-PAKISTAN PHONE: 430791,443248,280530. Beware of this VIRUS.... Contact us for vaccination...
The brothers soon began receiving calls from all over the world. Their software was still being illegally copied, and unknown to them, their subroutine was also wiping chunks of memory from the hard drive of computers on which it was installed. They had unwittingly written the world's first computer virus. No charges were filed, and the Farooq Alvi brothers - having renamed their company Brain Net after the virus, are now the largest internet service providers in Pakistan.

 

On January 20, 1863, the Federal Army of the Potomac begins an intended flanking maneuver of Gen. Robert E. Lee's army near Fredericksburg. Commanding General Ambrose Burnside hoped the move would raise his army's morale after the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg. But poor planning and bad luck combined to doom the move and ultimately, Ambrose's command. The march was logistically a failure to begin with; at one point, two regiments literally marched into each other at a crossroads. Worse, 4 days of nonstop rain made the roads impassable; wagons, artillery and horses became hopelessly mired, and the maneuver quickly was dubbed the "mud march." On January 25, President Lincoln will relieve Burnside of command.


Today is, of course, Inauguration Day. Following Washington's inauguration on April 30, 1789, Congress set March 4 as the official day of inauguration (March 5 when the 4th fell on a Sunday). Inauguration Day was moved to January 20 at noon in 1937, with the same Sunday exception in place. This exception has caused a few anomalies, because the law dictates that the preceding president's term ends at noon on inauguration day, whether the ceremony takes place or not. In 1821 the presidency was technically vacant for 24 hours. In modern times, incoming presidents have been sworn in at a private ceremony at the White House on Sunday the 20th, with the formal inauguration being held strictly for ceremony on the 21st. (below: Reagan's "private" inauguration in 1985)


On January 20, 1973, Jerry Lee Lewis turns over a new (musical) leaf, performing at the famed cathedral of country music, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The Ferriday, LA native had been one of rock and roll's earliest superstars in the late 50's and early 60's, but eventually turned off the pop establishment with his marriage to his underaged cousin. In the late 60's, Lewis turned his attention to country music and produced several hits, including an all-time great country title; "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Made A Loser Out Of Me)". On this date, Lewis walked on to the Opry stage and announced, "I am a rock-and-rollin', country-and-western, rhythm-and-blues singing (expletive)!" He then launched into a set that included (breaking his promise to Opry officials) all of his early rock chartbusters in addition to his country hits.
Jerry Lee Lewis - What's Made Milwaukee Famous - YouTube