January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 341 days remaining until the end of the year (342 in leap years).
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Cadoc (Wales)
- Francis de Sales
- January 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Li Tim-Oi (Episcopal Church (USA))
- St. Timothy and St. Titus, Apostolic men, (commemoration, Anglicanism)
- Earliest day on which Saturday of Souls can fall, while February 27 (or 28 during Leap Year) is the latest; observed 57 days before Easter. (Eastern Orthodox)
- Feast of Our Lady of Peace (Roman Catholic Church), and its related observances:
- First day of the Sementivae, in honor of Ceres and Terra (Roman Empire)
- Unification Day (Romania)
History
In 41, Roman Emperor Caligula, known for his eccentricity and sadistic despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. The Guard then proclaims Caligula’s uncle Claudius as Emperor
In 1438, The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV.
In 1458, Matthias Corvinus becomes king of Hungary.
In 1624, Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
In 1679, King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.
In 1709, George Rooke, English admiral (b. 1650) after retiring from the service in February 1705 and returned to his estate at St Lawrence near Canterbury, where he died. He was an English naval commander. He is known for his service in the wars against France and particularly remembered today for his victory at Vigo Bay and for capturing Gibraltar for England in 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession.
After England declared war on France (15 May 1702) at the opening of the War of the Spanish Succession, Rooke commanded the unsuccessful Allied expedition against Cádiz (August/September 1702), but on the passage home he destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet in the Battle of Vigo Bay (23 October 1702), which won him the thanks of Parliament. He commanded the allied naval forces in the capture of Gibraltar in July 1704. Returning to sea, on 13 August 1704 he attacked the French fleet off Málaga, an engagement which in immediate terms resulted in a draw between the two sides, but strategically successfully supported the allied forces at Gibraltar
In 1739, Victory of Tarapur Fort, India, was achieved by Peshva warrior Chimnaji Appa by defeating Portuguese forces
In 1742, Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1758, During the Seven Years’ War the leading burghers of Königsberg submit to Elizabeth of Russia, thus forming Russian Prussia (until 1763)
In 1817, Crossing of the Andes: Many soldiers of Juan Gregorio de las Heras are captured during the Action of Picheuta.
In 1835, Slaves in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, stage a revolt, which is instrumental in ending slavery there 50 years later.
In 1848, California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.
In 1857, The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia.
In 1859, Political and state union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as Domnitor in both Principalities.
In 1862, Bucharest is proclaimed the capital of Romania.
In 1878, The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
In 1882, Levi Boone, American politician, 17th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1808) dies. He served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1855–1856) for the American Party (Know-Nothings).
Boone was born near Lexington, Kentucky, the seventh son of Squire and Anna Grubbs Boone. His father, Squire, was a nephew of Daniel Boone‘s, making Levi Boone Daniel Boone’s great-nephew. Young Levi lost his father at the age of 9 when Squire finally succumbed to wounds he suffered at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
Despite the poverty the family was plunged into by the death of Squire Boone, Levi graduated from the medical school of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 1829 at the age of 21. He moved to Illinois and eventually established a practice in Hillsboro. In 1832, he served in the Black Hawk War, first in the cavalry and then as a surgeon. In 1833, Dr. Boone married Louise M. Smith, daughter of Theophilus W. Smith, Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, with whom he had 11 children.
In 1884, Charter was granted to Jackson Telephone Co. (a precursor to BellSouth) in Jackson, Tennessee to serve 50 customers.
In 1900, Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.
In 1908, The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.
In 1911, Japanese anarchist Shūsui Kōtoku is hanged for treason in a case now considered a miscarriage of justice.
In 1911, David Graham Phillips, American journalist and author (b. 1867) died after he was shot outside the Princeton Club at Gramercy Park in New York City. He was an American novelist and journalist of the muckraker tradition. He also was known for producing one of the most important investigations exposing details of the corruption by big businesses of the Senate, in particular, by the Standard Oil Company. He was among a few other writers during that time that helped prompt President Theodore Roosevelt to use the term “Muckrakers”.
The article inspired journalist Charles Edward Russell to insist to his boss William Randolph Hearst, who had just recently purchased the Cosmopolitan magazine, that he push his journalists to explore the Senate corruption as well. Philips was offered the position to explore more information about the corruption and bring it into the public’s eye. Philips’ brother Harrison and Gustavus Myers were hired as research assistants for Philips. Hearst commented to his readers about Philips starting a series that would reveal the Senate corruption so much, that most Senators would resign. This held true for some of the Senators, such as New York Senators Chauncey M. Depew and Thomas Collier Platt. Philips exposed Depew as receiving more than $50,000 from several companies. He also helped educate the public on how the senators were selected and that it was held in the hands of a few bosses in a tight circle, helping increase the corruption level. As a result of these articles, only four of the twenty-one senators that Philips wrote about were still in office. Philips also had some of the greatest success as a muckraker, because he helped change the U.S. Constitution, with the passage of the 17th Amendment, creating popular election for senators.
In 1916, In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.
In 1918, The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars effective February 14(NS)
In 1933, The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.
In 1939, The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.
In 1942, World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.
In 1943, World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
In 1946, The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1947, Greek banker Dimitrios Maximos becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
In 1948, Maria Mandl, Austrian SS officer (b. 1912) was hanged on 24 January 1948, aged 36. She was an Austrian SS-Helferin infamous for her key role in the Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp where she is believed to have been directly complicit in the deaths of over 500,000 female prisoners. At Auschwitz, Mandl was known as The Beast, and for the next two years she participated in selections for death and other documented abuses. She signed inmate lists, sending an estimated half a million women and children to their deaths in the gas chambers at Auschwitz I and II.
In 1955, Ira Hayes, American marine, member of the Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (b. 1923) was found dead lying near an abandoned adobe hut near where he lived in Sacaton, Arizona. He had been drinking and playing cards on the reservation with his friends and brothers Vernon and Kenneth. An altercation ensued between Hayes and a Pima Indian named Henry Setoyant, and all left except Hayes and Setoyant. The Pinal County coroner concluded that Hayes’ death was caused by exposure and alcohol poisoning. However, his brother Kenneth, a Korean War veteran, believes that the death resulted from the altercation with Setoyant. The reservation police did not conduct an investigation into Hayes’ death and Setoyant denied any allegations of fighting with Hayes.
He was a Pima Native American and a United States Marine who was one of the six flag raisers immortalized in the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II. Hayes was an enrolled member of the Gila River Pima Indian Reservation (1859) located in the Pinal and Maricopa counties in Arizona. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on August 26, 1942, and after recruit training, volunteered to become a Paramarine. He fought in the Bougainville and Iwo Jima campaigns in the Pacific Theatre of Operations.
On February 23, 1945, he helped to raise an American flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, an event photographed by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. Hayes and the other five flag-raisers became national heroes as a result. In 1946, he was instrumental in revealing the true identity of one of the other pictured Marines, who was killed in action on Iwo Jima. Hayes was never comfortable with his fame, however, and after his service in the Marine Corps, he descended into alcoholism. He died of exposure to cold and alcohol poisoning after a night of drinking on January 23–24, 1955. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on February 2, 1955.
Hayes was often commemorated in art and film, before and after his death. In 1949, he portrayed himself raising the flag in the motion picture movie, Sands of Iwo Jima. A giant Marine figure of Hayes raising the flag on Iwo Jima with the other five participants is included on the 1954 Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. In 1961, his life story was the subject of the movie The Outsider, starring Tony Curtis as Hayes. The movie inspired songwriter Peter La Farge to write The Ballad of Ira Hayes, which became popular nationwide in 1964 after being recorded by Johnny Cash. In 2006, Hayes was portrayed by Adam Beach in the World War II movie Flags of Our Fathers.
In 1960, Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the “barricades week”, during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.
In 1961, Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
In 1968, Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa
In 1972, Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
In 1977, Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
In 1978, Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
In 1984, The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
In 1986, Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi) of Uranus.
In 1990, Japan launches Hiten, the country’s first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union‘s Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.
In 1993, Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
In 1993, Thurgood Marshall, American lawyer and jurist, 32nd United States Solicitor General (b. 1908) dies of heart failure at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at 2:58 pm on January 24, 1993, at the age of 84. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His second wife and their two sons survived him. He was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court’s 96th justice and its first African-American justice.
Before becoming a judge, Marshall was a lawyer who was best known for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education, a decision that desegregated public schools. He served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after being appointed by President John F. Kennedy and then served as the Solicitor General after being appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. President Johnson nominated him to the United States Supreme Court in 1967.
In 1996, Polish Prime Minister Józef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
In 1998, Walter D. Edmonds, American journalist and author (b. 1903) dies. He was an American writer best known for historical novels. One of them, Drums Along the Mohawk (1936), was successfully adapted as a Technicolor feature film in 1939, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert. Edmonds was born in Boonville, New York. In 1919 he entered The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut. Originally intending to study chemical engineering, he became more interested in writing and worked as managing editor of the Choate Literary Magazine. He graduated in 1926 from Harvard, where he edited The Harvard Advocate, and where he studied with Charles Townsend Copeland. Edmonds eventually published 34 books, many for children, as well as a number of magazine stories. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1960 and the Newbery Medal in 1942, for The Matchlock Gun, and the National Book Award for Children’s Literature in 1976, for Bert Breen’s Barn.
In 1929, he published his first novel, Rome Haul, a work about the Erie Canal. The novel was adapted for the 1934 play The Farmer Takes a Wife and the 1935 film of the same name. He married Eleanor Stetson in 1930.
Drums Along the Mohawk was on the bestseller list for two years, second only to Margaret Mitchell‘s famous 1936 novel Gone with the Wind for part of that time. Bert Breen’s Barn was a winner of the 1976 National Book Award in category Children’s Books.
In 2003, The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
In 2009, Cyclone Klaus makes landfall near Bordeaux, France. It subsequently would cause 26 deaths as well as extensive disruptions to public transport and power supplies.
In 2011, At least 35 die and 180 are injured in a bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.
In 2014, Three bombs explode in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, killing about seven people and injuring over 100 others.
In 2014, The Philippines and the Bangsamoro agree to a peace deal that would help end the 45-year conflict.
In 2018, Former doctor Larry Nassar is sentenced up to 175 years in prison after being found guilty of using his position to sexually abuse female gymnasts.
