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American Revolution
On this day in 1796, the House of Representatives accepts the Colors, or flag, of the French Revolutionary Republic, proclaiming it the most honorable testimonial of the existing sympathies and affections of the two Republics. -
World War 1
German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen, mastermind of an aggressive German military strategy that will soon be used, in modified form, at the start of the Great War, dies on this day in 1913 in Berlin. -
General Interest
President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. Marking the beginning of the end of his Presidency, Nixon would resign from office in disgrace eight months later. -
Cold War
The God That Failed, a collection of essays by six writers and intellectuals who either joined or sympathized with the communist cause before renouncing the ideology, is published by Harpers. -
Crime
Mary Sullivan is raped and strangled to death in her Boston apartment. The killer left a card reading “Happy New Year” leaning against her foot. Sullivan would turn out to be the last woman killed by the notorious Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, who had terrorized the city between 1962 and 1964, raping and killing 13 women. -
Music
In 1946 Bobby Vinton tops the pop charts with the last #1 single of the pre-Beatles era. -
Literacy
Poet T.S. Eliot died in London at age 76. Eliot’s The Waste Land, published in 1922, is considered the single most influential work of poetry of the twentieth century. In 1948 he was bestowed the Order of Merit by King George VI and in the same year was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. -
Disaster
Two trains collide in Sangi, Pakistan, on this day in 1990, killing between 200 and 300 people and injuring an estimated 700 others. This was the worst rail accident to date in Pakistan. -
Hollywood
The National Society of Film Critics, comprising 55 of America’s top critics, holds its 37th annual meeting at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York City on this day in 2003. The critics chose the director Roman Polanski’s wrenching Holocaust drama The Pianist as best picture of the previous year. -
Sports
On January 4, 2006, University of Texas quarterback Vince Young makes an eight-yard touchdown run on fourth down with 19 seconds left in the game, capping one of the best individual performances in college football history while leading his team to a Rose Bowl victory and a national championship title over the University of Southern California (USC).