1905 US begins supervising the Dominican Republic's national and international debts, testing President Theodore Roosevelt's "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine
1914 The first group of Transvaal Indian women satyagrahis are released from Pietermaritzburg Prison in South Africa after three months imprisonment
1920 Dutch 2nd Chamber passes school laws
1920 The American Civil Liberties Union is founded
1921 British submarine HMS K5 (which was unusually equipped with steam turbines) sinks with 57 crew during exercises in the Bay of Biscay
1921 Dagestan ASSR forms in RSFSR
1921 Mountain Autonomous Republic established in RSFSR
1921 Republic of Turkey declared out of remnants of Ottoman Empire
1922 Arthur Honegger's ballet "Skating Rink" premieres, Paris
1925 The Soviet and Japan sign a convention resuming relations: Russia agrees to limit revolutionary activity of the Third Communist International, while Japan agrees to leave the Sakhalin
1926 2nd German government of Luther begins
1929 1st feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, "In Old Arizona"
1930 1st radio broadcast of "Lone Ranger" (WXYZ-Detroit)
1934 Japan sends Henry Pu Yi as regent to emperor of Manchuria
1936 Edward VIII succeeds British King George V
1937 -45°F (-43°C), Boca, California (state record)
1937 1st US Presidential Inauguration day held on Jan 20th, (previously March 4th)
1939 Charles Ives' 1st Sonata "Concord" premieres
1941 Bela Bartok's 6th string quartet, premieres in NYC
1942 Japanese invade Burma
1942 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin to organise the "final solution", the extermination of Europe's Jews
1943 Lead, South Dakota, temperature is 52°F, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood records -16°F
1943 Operation Weiss: German, Italian, Bulgarian & Croatian troops attempt to retake land liberated by Tito's partisans
1944 RAF drops 2,300 ton of bombs on Berlin
1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt sworn-in for an unprecedented (and never to be repeated) 4th term as US President
1945 The Hungarian Provisional Government concludes an armistice with the USSR, US, and Britain, agree to pay reparations and to join the war against Germany
1946 F Gouin follows De Gaulle as temporary leader of French government
1947 Brigadier General Edwin K Wright, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA
1949 US President Harry Truman announces his four point program
1950 Suriname becomes independent part in Realm of Netherlands
1952 British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone
1953 1st US telecast transmitted to Canada from Buffalo, New York
1953 1st live US coast-to-coast inauguration address (Eisenhower)
1954 -70°F (-57°C), Rogers Pass, Montana (US 48 state record)
1954 Dmitri Shostakovitch's' "Concertino opus 94" premieres
1954 The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
1957 Gomulka wins Poland's parliamentary election
1957 Morton Gould's "Declaration" premieres in Washington, D.C.
1958 A group attempting the 1st surface crossing of Antarctic join up at the South Pole
1959 Dmitri Shostakovitch's Moscow-Tsjerjomoesjki premieres in Moscow
1960 Patrice Lumumba sentenced to 6 months in Belgian Congo
1961 Francis Poulenc's "Gloria" premieres in Boston
1961 Robert Frost recites "Gift Outright" at JFK's inauguration
1961 Yugoslav ex-vice-president Milovan Djilas flees
1961 The Democrat J.F. Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States, the youngest ever sworn in
1965 The Byrds record "Mr Tambourine Man"
1965 The US Jet Propulsion Laboratory proposes modified Apollo flight to fly around Mars & return
1965 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain
1968 US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming
1968 US male Figure Skating championship won by Tim Wood
1969 Richard M Nixon inaugurated as US president
1969 U of Az reports 1st optical id of pulsar (in Crab Nebula)
1970 Super Fight, computer mock championship between Ali & Marciano; Marciano won.
1971 Ard Schenk skates world record 1000m (1:18.
1972 Six oil exporting countries conclude meetings with Western oil companies; an agreement is reached to raise the price of crude
1972 Number of people out of work and claiming unemployment benefit in UK rises to over 1 million
1973 A car bomb explodes in Sackville Place, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, killing 1 person and injuring 17 (no organisation claimed responsibility)
1973 Richard Nixon's second inauguration as President of the United States takes place in Washington, D.C.
1974 7th ABA All-Star Game: East 128 beats West 112 at Virginia
1975 Terrence McNally's "Ritz" premieres in NYC
1977 George H. W. Bush ends term as 11th director of CIA
1977 Mr Knoche, serves as acting director of CIA
1979 1 million Iranians march in Tehran in a show of support for the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, fundamentalist Muslim leader
1980 US female Figure Skating championship won by Linda Fratianne
1980 US male Figure Skating championship won by Charles Tickner
1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed
1981 Adm Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), ends term as 12th director of CIA
1981 Frank C Carlucci, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1981 Islander Glenn Resch's 25th & last shut-out opponent-Flames 5-0
1981 The US diplomats and citizens held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran begin their journey home
1982 7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor Ky
1982 Honduras constitution goes into effect
1982 Piet Dankert elected chairman of European Parliament
1983 American gangster Roy DeMeo is found murdered in his car trunk after disappearing a few days earlier
1984 US female Figure Skating championship won by Rosalynn Sumners
1985 Cold front strikes US, at least 40 die (-27°F (-33°C) in Chicago)
1986 1st federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr
1986 Chunnel announced (railroad tunnel under Channel)
1986 Military coup in Lesotho under major general Lekhanya & premier Leabua Jonathan
1987 Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon by Islamic militia group
1987 8th ACE Cable Awards: Ted Turner wins the Golden CableACE
1987 Bank robber Robert A. Litchfield is arrested at Lake Tahoe
1988 Andre Hoffman skates world record 1,500m (1:52.06)
1988 Arizona committee opens hearing on impeachment of Gov Evan Mecham
1989 George H. W. Bush inaugurated as 41st US President, Dan Quayle becomes 44th Vice President
1990 US 64th manned space mission STS 32 (Columbia 10) returns from space
1990 Black January - crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku
1991 13th UCP Telethon
1991 US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles
1991 Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
1993 Adm Studeman, serves as acting director of CIA
1993 Bill Clinton (D) inaugurated as 42nd US President
1993 Maya Angelou is 1st African American and woman to recite a poem at inauguration of a US President - "On the Pulse of Morning" for Bill Clinton
1995 Russian ruble drops to 3,947 per dollar (record)
1996 US female Figure Skating championship won by Michelle Kwan
1996 WPAT FM NYC radio station switches to English-Spanish format
1997 Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit
1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in New Orleans LA on KKND 106.7 FM
1997 Pakistan defeat West Indies 2-0 to win Aust one-day Series
1998 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducts Mama & Papas & Eagles
1998 Warner Brothers TV Network begins Tueday night programming
1999 The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés.
