January 31




1606 - Guy Fawkes was executed after being convicted for his role in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I.

1747 - The first clinic specializing in the treatment of venereal diseases was opened at London Dock Hospital.

1858 - The Great Eastern, the five-funnelled steamship designed by Brunel, was launched at Millwall.

1865 - In America, General Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.

1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified by the U.S. Congress. It was ratified on December 6, 1865. The amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

1876 - All Native American Indians were ordered to move into reservations.

1917 - Germany announced its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1929 - The USSR exiled Leon Trotsky. He found asylum in Mexico.

1930 - U.S. Navy Lt. Ralph S. Barnaby became the first glider pilot to have his craft released from a dirigible, a large blimp, at Lakehurst, NJ.

1934 - Jim Londos defeated Joe Savoldi in a one-fall match in Chicago, IL. The crowd of 20,000 was one of the largest crowds to see a wrestling match.

1936 - The radio show "The Green Hornet" debuted.

1940 - The first Social Security check was issued by the U.S. Government.

1944 - During World War II, U.S. forces invaded Kwajalein Atoll and other areas of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1945 - Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the U.S. Civil War to be executed for desertion.

1946 - A new constitution in Yugoslavia created six constituent republics (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia) subordinated to a central authority, on the model of the USSR.

1949 - The first TV daytime soap opera was broadcast from NBC's station in Chicago, IL. It was "These Are My Children."

1950 - U.S. President Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.

1958 - Explorer I was put into orbit around the earth. It was the first U.S. earth satellite.

1960 - Julie Andrews, Henry Fonda, Rex Harrison and Jackie Gleason, appeared in a two-hour TV special entitled "The Fabulous ’50s".

1971 - Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.

1971 - Telephone service between East and West Berlin was re-established after 19 years.

1982 - Sandy Duncan gave her final performance as "Peter Pan" in Los Angeles, CA. She completed 956 performances without missing a show.

1983 - The wearing of seat belts in cars became compulsory in Britain.

1983 - JCPenney announced plans to spend in excess of $1 billion over the next five years to modernize stores and to accelerate a repositioning program.

1985 - The final Jeep rolled off the assembly line at the AMC plant in Toledo, OH.

1990 - McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia.

1995 - U.S. President Clinton invoked presidential emergency authority to provide a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.

1996 - In Columbo, Sri Lanka, a truck was rammed into the gates of the Central Bank. The truck filled with explosives killed at least 86 and injured 1,400.

2000 - John Rocker (Atlanta Braves) was suspended from major league baseball for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in an interview published by Sports Illustrated.

2000 - An Alaska Airlines jet crashed into the ocean off Southern California. All 88 people on board were killed.

2001 - A Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that occurred in 1988.

2005 - Keanu Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.