On this day: January 1
Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, Ellis Island opens, the Rose Bowl becomes the first college bowl game, Hank Williams dies, and the Y2K panic fizzles out, all on this day.
1735: Paul Revere, an American patriot most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, is born in Boston, Mass.
1735: Paul Revere, an American patriot most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, is born in Boston, Mass.
1752: Betsy Ross is born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia, Pa. Ross is widely credited with making the first American flag, although there is no credible historical evidence that the story is true.
1772: The first traveler's cheques, issued by the London Credit Exchange Company and useable in 90 European cities, go on sale in London, England.
1773: The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace," then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17" is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, England.
1808: The importation of slaves into the United States is banned.
1863: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, which declares that all slaves in the rebel states are free.
1890: The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., is first held. The first event, staged by Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club, featured horse-drawn carriages covered in flowers, followed by foot races, polo matches and a game of tug-of-war on the town lot. Pictured is the parade from 1893.
1892: New York's new Immigration Depot opens at Ellis Island to provide improved facilities for the massive numbers of arrivals. The first immigrant to pass through Ellis was a "rosy-cheeked Irish girl," Annie Moore, age 15, from County Cork. She came with her two younger brothers to join their parents in New York City. That first day, three large ships were waiting to land, and 700 immigrants passed through Ellis Island. In the first year, nearly 450,000 immigrants passed through the island.
1895: J. Edgar Hoover is born in Washington, D.C. Hoover, seen here in 1961, would become director of the Bureau of Investigation, the predecessor to the FBI, in 1924, and was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972.
1902: The Rose Bowl, then titled the "Tournament East-West football game," is held for the first time in Pasadena, Calif., starting the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games. The game, which was added to help fund the cost of the Rose Parade, featured Michigan and Stanford, with Michigan winning 49-0 after Stanford quit in the third quarter. The game was so lopsided that for the next 15 years Tournament of Roses officials instead turned to chariot races, ostrich races and other events instead of football. The next Rose Bowl game was held on New Year's Day in 1916.
1911: Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Greenberg, one of the premier power hitters of his generation, is born in New York City. Greenberg, who played all but one season of his 13-season MLB career with the Detroit Tigers, was a five-time All-Star, was twice named the American League's Most Valuable Player and won two World Series titles with the Tigers. He still holds the AL record for most RBIs in a single season by a right-handed batter and also became famous as the first Jewish superstar in American professional sports.
1915: Aspirin is made available for the first time in tablet form. The medicine had previously been sold in powder form since May 1, 1899.
1919: Boxer Rocky Graziano, considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, is born Thomas Rocco Barbella in Brooklyn, N.Y.
1919: Novelist J. D. Salinger, best known for his 1951 novel "The Catcher in the Rye" and his reclusive lifestyle, is born in New York City.
1935: The first Sugar Bowl, held at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans; the first Orange Bowl, held at Miami Field in Miami, Fla.; and the first Sun Bowl, held at El Paso (Texas) High School Stadium; take place. They are the second-oldest college bowl games after the Rose Bowl.
1937: The first Cotton Bowl football game is played in Dallas, Texas, with Texas Christian University beating Marquette, 16-6.
1938: Actor Frank Langella, best known for roles in movies such as "Dave," "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Frost/Nixon," is born in Bayonne, N.J. He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for portraying former U.S. President Richard Nixon on "Frost/Nixon."
1942: The Declaration by United Nations, the basis of the modern United Nations, is signed by 26 nations during World War II.
1942: The Rose Bowl is played in Durham, N.C., due to fears of a Japanese attack on the West Coast of the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Oregon State beats Duke 20-16 in the first and only time the game has been played outside of Pasadena, Calif.
1953: Country singer-songwriter Hank Williams, best known for such songs as "Lovesick Blues," "Honky Tonkin'" and "Your Cheatin' Heart," dies suddenly in the early morning hours at the age of 29 from heart failure brought on by pills and alcohol. He was riding in the backseat of a Cadillac somewhere in Virginia or West Virginia on the way to a New Year's Day show in Canton, Ohio, when he died.
1959: Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution. Batista immediately flees the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic and eventually finds political asylum in Portugal. Castro (right) is seen here with fellow revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos entering Havana on Jan. 8, 1959.
1960: Johnny Cash plays the first of his jailhouse shows when he performs at San Quentin prison in San Rafael, Calif. Among those in the captive audience is 20-year-old Merle Haggard, who was serving time for burglary.
1960: American actress Margaret Sullavan, best known for her roles in movies such as "Three Comrades," "The Shopworn Angel" and "The Shop Around the Corner," dies of an overdose of barbiturates at the age of 50 in New Haven, Conn.
1961: The first AFL Championship Game takes place, with the Houston Oilers beating the Los Angeles Chargers 24-16 at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, Texas.
1966: Effective on this day, all cigarette packages in the United States begin carrying the health warning: "Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health." This resulted from landmark federal legislation enacted in 1965 that required health warnings on cigarette packages.
1980: Swedish model Elin Nordegren, who became most famous for her five-year marriage to professional golfer Tiger Woods, is born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1984: The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T. The company's local operations were split into seven independent Regional Holding Companies, also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or "Baby Bells."
1985: VH-1 premieres as an adult contemporary music video channel with Marvin Gaye's "Star Spangled Banner" video.
1993: Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the "Velvet Divorce," resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1994: The North American Free Trade Agreement, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America, comes into effect.
1995: The last "Far Side" cartoon, created by Gary Larson in 1980, is published. The single-panel comic was carried by more than 1,900 daily newspapers, translated into 17 languages, and collected into calendars and 23 compilation books during its 15-year run.
1995: The World Trade Organization officially commences. The WTO oversees the implementation, administration and operation of trade agreements and provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.
1997: Country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt dies at the age of 52 in Smyrna, Tenn., from health problems stemming from years of substance abuse. Although he struggled to find success while alive, the 2000s saw a resurgence of interest in his music. Today, many of his songs, including "Pancho and Lefty," "If I Needed You," "To Live is to Fly" and "No Place to Fall," are considered standards of their genre.
1999: The euro is officially introduced as an accounting currency, replacing the former European Currency Unit at a ratio of 1:1. However, actual physical euro coins and banknotes wouldn't enter circulation until three years later, on Jan. 1, 2002.
2000: After years of preparation for Y2K, only minor computer-related problems are reported, including a problem with Hotmail, with a nuclear power plant in Japan and with apartment heating in Korea.
2001: Actor Ray Walston, best known for his roles in the TV sitcom "My Favorite Martian" and as high school teacher Mr. hand in the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," dies of complications from lupus at the age of 86 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walston is also remembered for his roles in "South Pacific," "Damn Yankees" and "The Sting" and as Judge Henry Bone on the TV drama series "Picket Fences."
