This day in history...

On January 9, 1776, writer Thomas Paine publishes “Common Sense,” a pamphlet in which he presents arguments in favor of American independence. At the time of its publication, most colonists considered themselves to be aggrieved Britons. Paine fundamentally changed the tenor of colonists’ argument with the crown when he wrote the following: “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.”

Its a big date for Apple.....on January 9, 2001, Apple launches iTunes, an online store that allows users to purchase music and download it to their PCs. Combined with the iPod, a portable MP3 player Apple will release later in the year, iTunes gives consumers access to a huge music library they can manage and take with them anywhere. On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone, a touchscreen mobile phone with an iPod, camera and Web-browsing capabilities, among other features. Apple brings the iPhone to market in late July, and within 6 months, sells close to 1.5 million. Time magazine names it the invention of the year. Within 5 years, the American public alone will buy 200 million iPhones, and Apple has risen to one of the world's most valuable corporations. (photos show a 1st generation iPhone sealed for protection, currently selling on eBay with an asking price of $18,000)


On January 9, 1861, a Union merchant ship, the Star of the West, is fired upon as it tries to deliver supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Although not considered the event that triggers the Civil War - that will come when Confederates attack the fort itself in April - the incident marks the first time shots are exchanged between North and South.

 

On January 10, 1946, The first General Assembly of the United Nations, comprising 51 nations, convenes at Westminster Central Hall in London, England. Leaders of the Allies began in 1944 to lay the groundwork for a body with much more authority than the defunct League of Nations, which had failed to prevent WWII. They met again in San Francisco shortly before V-E Day to draft the U.N Charter.


On January 10, 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, TX, produces an enormous gusher of crude oil. The geyser, coating the landscape for hundreds of feet, will take 9 days to cap. Up to this point, petroleum is used primarily as a machine lubricant and to make kerosene for lamps. The Spindletop oil strike is considered the advent of the U.S. oil industry.


On January 10, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt proposes the lend-lease program to Congress. As Roosevelt addressed Congress, the Battle of Britain was in full swing and Hitler seemed on the verge of invading the British Isles. Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been begging Roosevelt for help for months, but Roosevelt was hamstrung by the will of the people to stay out of the war. The lend-lease program provided for military aid to any country whose defense was vital to the security of the United States, permitting Roosevelt to send Europe help without committing troops. Congress accepted the plan almost unanimously. Later, Roosevelt would use lend-lease to supply the USSR, hoping to draw Hitler into diverting resources away from Western Europe.
By the end of the war the United States had given more than $50 billion in armaments and financial support to Britain, the U.S.S.R. and 37 other countries.

 

January 11, 1964, US Surgeon General Luther Terry announces that the government finds a definitive link between smoking and cancer. Anecdotal evidence had always pointed to negative health effects from smoking, and by the 1930s physicians were noticing an increase in lung cancer cases. The first medical studies that raised serious concerns were published in Great Britain in the late 1940s American cigarette companies spent much of the next decade lobbying the government to keep smoking legal and advertising reduced levels of tar and nicotine in their products. Terry intentionally chose to release the study on a Saturday, so as to limit its immediate effects on the stock market.

January 11, 1863, Union General John McClernand and Admiral David Porter capture Arkansas Post, a Confederate stronghold on the Arkansas River. The victory secured central Arkansas for the Union and lifted Northern morale just three weeks after the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg.


January 11, 1567, Queen Elizabeth I announces to the British public a plan to raise money to aid the nation's effort to expand its export markets around the world. The government will sell 400,000 "lots", at 10 shillings each (an enormous sum; most commoners could not afford it) to fund the project. To encourage participation, all lot holders are promised freedom from arrest for all crimes other than murder, felonies, piracy or treason. At the end, a drawing of those holding lots will be held; the name chosen is to receive an incredible sum of 5,000 pounds in cash and goods. It is history's first lottery.

 

On January 12, 2010, Haiti is struck by a 7.0 earthquake, with the epicenter just 16 miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The quake hits just before 4pm, with 8 aftershocks over the next few hours. At least 52 aftershocks are recorded over the following 2 weeks. Authorities agree the death toll is impossible to calculate. Most estimates place it between 40-50,000, but the Haitian government estimates 316,000. Nearly a million residents are displaced.

On January 12, 1879, British troops under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal, launching the British-Zulu War. The Zulus had been resisting European intrusion since Cetshwayo had been crowned king in 1872. The British suffered grave defeats in the first two months, but on March 29 the tide turned in favor of the British at the Battle of Khambula, and Cetshwayo would surrender in July. Zulu rebellions would continue until 1887, when the British formally annexed Zululand. In 1897 it became a part of Natal, which joined the Union of South Africa in 1910.

On January 12, 1926, the two-man comedy series “Sam ‘n’ Henry” debuts on Chicago’s WGN radio station. The principle actors are Freeman Gosden and Charles Carrell, both of whom are white. But their portrayal of two African-Americans who move to Chicago from the Deep south is a hit with WGN listeners. In two years, Gosden and Carrell will move to rival station WMAQ intending to continue the program, but they soon learn WGN had copyrighted the character names. So they changed the name of the show to "Amos and Andy." When the show goes into national syndication, the popularity of Amos and Andy explodes, and the show will become the highest rated radio comedy in history. The program continues until 1951, when a television version debuts with black actors Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams in the lead roles. It is the first TV program with an all-black cast. But attitudes about racial stereotypes are changing, and under pressure from the NAACP, the show will be off the air by 1953.

According to Stanley Kubrick's novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the HAL 9000 supercomputer becomes operational in Urbana, Illinois on January 12, 1992.

 

On January 12, 1969, the New York Jets, American Football League champions and an 18-point underdog, beat the National Football League champion Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III in Miami. Jets QB Joe Namath caused a major stir in the days before the game when he "guaranteed" a Jets victory.