TODAY IN HISTORY January 21
U.S. and World History
1793 – One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.
1861 – Five Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate, including Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, the future president of the Confederacy.
1924 – Vladimir Lenin, the architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet Union, died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 54.
1950 – In the conclusion to one of the most spectacular trials in U.S. history, former State Department official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury. He was convicted of having perjured himself in regards to testimony about his alleged involvement in a Soviet spy ring before and during World War II. Hiss served nearly four years in jail, but steadfastly protested his innocence during and after his incarceration.
1950 – George Orwell (wrote The Road To Wigan Pier, Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four) died of tuberculosis at the age of 46. He was buried in All Saints’ Churchyard, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, UK.
His gravestone reads: bears the simple epitaph: Here lies Eric Arthur Blair, born 25 June 1903, died 21 January 1950. No mention is made on the gravestone of his more famous pen name.
1959 – Carl Switzer (played the role of Alfalfa in the Our Gang series in the 1930s) was shot to death in a dispute over a $50 debt. Switzer was 31.
1954 – The first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn.
1959 – Film director Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah, The Greatest Show On Earth, and the original version ofCleopatra) died of heart failure at the age of 77.
1967 – Actress Ann Sheridan (Angels With Dirty Faces, The Man Who Came To Dinner, Kings Row) died of esophageal and liver cancer at the age of 51.
1976 – From London’s Heathrow Airport and Orly Airport outside Paris, the first Concordes with commercial passengers simultaneously took flight. The London flight was headed to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, and the Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Senegal in West Africa. At their cruising speeds, the innovative Concordes flew well over the sound barrier at 1,350 miles an hour, cutting air travel time by more than half.
1977 – One day after his inauguration, President Jimmy Carter kept a campaign promise and pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders. Carter’s decision generated a good deal of controversy.
Carter’s pardon stated that only civilians who were convicted of [violating] the Military Selective Service Act by draft-evasion acts or omissions committed between August 4, 1964 and March 28, 1973 were eligible. The pardon was unconditional and wiped criminal records clean, but it only applied to civilians, not the estimated 500,000 to 1 million active-duty personnel who went AWOL or deserted during the war.
Heavily criticized by veterans’ groups and others for allowing unpatriotic lawbreakers to get off scot-free, the pardon and companion relief plan also came under fire from amnesty groups for not addressing deserters, soldiers who were dishonorably discharged or civilian anti-war demonstrators who had been prosecuted for their resistance.
1994 – A jury in Manassas, Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously “wounding” her husband, John, whom she had accused of sexually assaulting her.
“Wounding” seems like such an understatement.
1996 – The 555-ton Gurita, typically used to ferry passengers between Indonesia’s islands, was sunk in an unexpected storm off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Although exact numbers were impossible to determine, approximately 400 people were on board when the ship left Jakarta, well in excess of the official capacity of 220.
When the Gurita encountered a strong storm just six miles from Sabang, the overload exacerbated the disaster. As the ship began to sway and lurch violently, people began to panic and fight over life jackets, as there were not enough for everyone on board.
The Gurita sank quickly, and the surrounding waters quickly filled with bodies. Sharks then preyed for days on the bodies of the dead and those still living. Of the estimated 400 on board, only 47 survived.
1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 395–28 to reprimand Speaker Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
Eighty-four ethics charges were filed by Democrats against Gingrich during his term as Speaker. All were eventually dropped except for one: claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. In addition to the reprimand, Gingrich was ordered to reimburse the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000.
1998 – Actor Jack Lord (Dr. No, Stoney Burke, Hawaii Five-0) died of congestive heart failure after a two-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 77.
2001 – Byron De La Beckwith, convicted of killing civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963 (but not convicted until 1994), died at the age of 80 in Mississippi State Prison.
2003 – The Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America’s largest minority group.
2009 – After more than seven decades as the world’s largest automaker, General Motors officially lost the title on this date when it announces worldwide sales of 8.36 million cars and trucks in 2008, compared with Toyota’s 8.97 million vehicle sales that same year.
2010 – A bitterly divided Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, vastly increased the power of big business and labor unions to influence government decisions by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress.
2010 – Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards admitted fathering a child during an affair before his second White House bid.
ROCK & ROLL HISTORY
The late Richie Havens (‘Freedom’) was born in 1941.
The late Edwin Starr (‘War’) was born in 1942.
Billy Ocean (born Louis Sebastian Charles – ‘Caribbean Queen’) is 65.
Chris Britton (lead guitarist with The Troggs – ‘Wild Thing’ and ‘Sleep My Love’ as a solo artist) is 70.
Mac Davis (born Scott Davis – ‘Baby, Don’t Get Hooked On Me’) is 73
Rock Factoid: Davis has written many hits for other artists, including ‘In The Ghetto’, ‘Memories’, ‘A Little Less Conversation’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ (Elvis Presley), ‘Watching Scotty Grow’ (Bobby Goldsboro) and ‘I Believe In Music’ (Gallery).
1956 – Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ became the first rock & roll album to enter the U.S. charts.
1957 – Chuck Berry recorded ‘School Day’.
1957 – Patsy Cline won Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts program, singing ‘Walking After Midnight’.
1957 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘(Let’s Have A) Party’.
1964 – The Dave Clark Five released ‘Bits And Pieces’ / ‘All Of The Time’ in England.
Rock Factoid: Although ‘Bits And Pieces’ was credited to Dave Clark and Mike Smith, it was Ron Ryan who did the honors. His brother, Mick, was guitarist for the band before Lenny Davidson took over. He let Mike Smith take ‘Pieces’ (originally meant to be a country song) and make it his own but after being promised writing royalties and on-label credits by Clark, Ryan received nothing … no credit and no royalties.
“I got treated badly, but the band members were ripped off regally. They were playing tours that were netting huge amounts of money, appearing in films, and doing highly paid TV and radio work and all they were getting was a flat weekly wage. Compared to the average British working man at the time, it was a good wage, but the lion’s share went into Mr. Clark’s coffers. On top of that every song band members wrote had to have ‘Dave Clark’ on it as a “co-writer” or the song would not be recorded.” … Ron Ryan
1966 – George Harrison married Pattie Boyd.
1967 – The Monkees recorded ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’ and ‘She Hangs Out’.
Rock Factoid: Don Kirshner was still supervising Monkees sessions and persuaded Davy Jones to fly to New York and record a solo session with producer Jeff Barry, using session musicians instead of the band. Kirshner chose the two songs for the next Monkees single. He also authorized pressing and distribution of the single; something he technically was not supposed to do without approval. That would be his downfall. When copies of the single appeared in Canada in March 1967, the song began to get airplay in both Canada and the U.S. Kirshner was fired, on the grounds that he had issued an unauthorized record.
1968 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded ‘All Along The Watchtower’ in London.
1969 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘In The Ghetto’.
1982 – B.B. King donated his entire record collection, including 7,000 rare blues records to the University of Mississippi’s Center for Study of Southern Culture.
1984 – Jackie Wilson (‘Higher & Higher’, ‘Lonely Teardrops’ and many more) died eight years after a heart attack and subsequent fall left him in a coma with brain damage.
1987 – The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B. B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters and Jackie Wilson were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Non-Performers also inducted were Leonard Chess, Mike Leiber and Mike Stoller, Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. Inductees in the Early Influence category were Hank Williams, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
1989 – Steve Wahrer (drummer/lead singer with The Trashmen (‘Surfin Bird’) died of throat cancer.
1996 – Francisco ‘Cannibal’ Garcia (Cannibal & The Headhunters – ‘Land Of 1,000 Dances’) died after a long-term illness.
1996 – Dennis Fuller and Edem Ephraim (British pop duo – ‘London Nights’) were both killed when an inebriated Swiss driver hit their car head-on in the Austrian Alps.
1997 – ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker (Elvis Presley’s manager) died after suffering a stroke.
1999 – Charles Brown (‘Please Come Home For Christmas’) died of congestive heart failure.
2002 – Peggy Lee (‘Is That All There Is’) died from complications of diabetes and heart failure.
2007 – Songwriter Irwin Levine died of kidney failure.
Rock Factoid: He co-wrote ‘I Can’t Quit Her’ (Blood, Sweat & Tears), ‘Black Pearl’ (Sonny Charles), ‘This Diamond Ring’ (Gary Lewis & The Playboys), ‘I Woke Up In Love This Morning’ (Partridge Family), ‘Candida’, ‘Knock Three Times’ and ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree’ (Tony Orlando & Dawn).
2010 – Robert ‘Squirrel’ Lester (The Chi-Lites – ‘Have You Seen Her’) died of liver cancer.
SPORTS HISTORY
1953 – Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Incredibly, Joe DiMaggio failed to be elected on his first try. He only received 44.3% support. 264 ballots were cast and DiMaggio was named on just 117 of them.
1969 – Stan Musial and Roy Campanella were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
1971 – No one was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
18-time All Star Yogi Berra received the highest percentage of votes (67.2%) but fell 28 votes short of the required 75%.
1979 – The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 35-31 at Super Bowl XIII. MVP: Steelers’ quarterback Terry Bradshaw passed for 318 yards and 4 TDs to win the Most Valuable Player award.
1989 – Carl Furillo, right fielder for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1946 to 1960, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Furillo hit over .300 five times, winning the 1953 batting title with a .344 average
1990 – At the Australian Open in Melbourne, American tennis player John McEnroe became the first player since 1963 to be disqualified from a Grand Slam tournament for misconduct.
1992 – Bill Cowher was named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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