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• On Jan. 1, 1995, the tales of giant rogue waves recounted by sailors for centuries were finally proved when a freak 85-foot-high wave was measured hitting the Draupner oil platform off the coast of Norway.
• On Jan. 2, 2006, an explosion in the Sago Mine in Sago, West Virginia, trapped 13 coal miners. Tragically, all but one eventually succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. The cave-in launched scrutiny and criticism of the media, the company that owned the mine and then-president George W. Bush's administration. • On Jan. 3, 1993, backup quarterback Frank Reich led the Buffalo Bills to a 41-38 overtime victory over the Houston Oilers in an American Football Conference playoff game immortalized to football fans as "The Comeback." • On Jan. 4, 2007, Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic representative from California, became the first woman to hold the Speaker of the House position. She would become Speaker again in 2018. • On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford made the welcome announcement that he was doubling his assembly-line employees' pay. However, there was a perhaps not-so-welcome catch -- home inspections to check for alcohol consumption and untidy living quarters. • On Jan. 6, 1996, snow began blanketing Washington, D.C., and the eastern seaboard in a blizzard that killed 154 people and ended up costing more than a billion dollars in damages before it ended. • On Jan. 7, 1891, future novelist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama. Though she would eventually publish more books than any other Black woman in America, by the time she died in 1960 she'd failed to gain a mainstream audience and was poor and alone in a welfare hotel. Today she is considered one of the most important Black writers in American history. • On Jan. 8, 1963, LEOnardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, was exhibited for the first time in the U.S. at Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art. More than 2,000 dignitaries, including President John F. Kennedy, came out to view it. The exhibit opened to the public the following day. • On Jan. 9, 1984, Angelo Buono, one of the Hillside Stranglers, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the rape, torture and murder of 10 young women in Los Angeles. His cousin and partner in crime, Kenneth Bianchi, testified against Buono to escape the death penalty himself. • On Jan. 10, 1863, the London Tube, the world's first urban underground railway, opened. Since its first tunnel ran under the River Thames and had no ventilation, it was always filled with smoke. • On Jan. 11, 1775, Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to hold an elected office in the Americas, took his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress. In July he earned the nickname the "Southern Paul Revere" when he rode 30 miles to warn of a Cherokee attack on backcountry settlements, and just a month later he became the first recorded Jewish soldier to be killed in the Revolutionary War. • On Jan. 12, 1967, James Bedford became the first American to have his remains cryogenically frozen, in the hope of future reanimation. Later, as cryogenic companies closed their doors, his family was forced at one point to keep his liquid nitrogen chamber in self-storage. Today he is preserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. • On Jan. 13, 1999, basketball superstar Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls announced his retirement from the sport, for the second time, in front of a crowd at Chicago's United Center, citing a loss of drive necessary to continue playing at such a high level and the desire to spend more time with his family. • On Jan. 14, 1969, an explosion aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, caused by an accidentally detonated rocket, destroyed 15 planes, killed 27 people, and injured more than 300 others in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Enterprise was the first-ever nuclear-powered aircraft carrier when it launched in 1960. • On Jan. 15, 1777, a convention of future Vermonters got together in Westminster and announced their independence from the crown of Great Britain and the colony of New York. Their delegates included future Vermont governor Thomas Chittenden and Ira Allen, who would later become known as the "father" of the University of Vermont. • On Jan. 16, 1997, actor-comedian Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son Ennis was murdered by Mikhail Markhasev after Ennis had stopped nearby to fix a flat tire along California's Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. Markhasev was reportedly high on drugs at the time and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. • On Jan. 17, 1916, a group of golf professionals and several leading amateur golfers gathered at the Taplow Club in New York City, in a meeting that resulted in the founding of the Professional Golfer's Association (PGA). • On Jan. 18, 1968, Eartha Kitt, the actress and singer known for playing Catwoman on the 1960s Batman TV series, caused a stir during a White House luncheon when she confronted Lady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War. Her remarks led to her being blacklisted as a performer in the U.S. • On Jan. 19, 1977, First Lady and ERA supporter Betty Ford, on a whim and on her final day as a resident of the White House, jumped on the Cabinet Room table and struck a pose. At that time, just three women had ever sat at that table as presidential cabinet members. • On Jan. 20, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld, who in 1975 was America's youngest Secretary of Defense at age 43 when he served under Gerald Ford, became the oldest Secretary of Defense when he was appointed to that job 26 years later by George W. Bush. • On Jan. 21, 2009, after more than 70 years as the world's largest automaker, General Motors finally lost the title when it announced worldwide sales of 8.36 million cars and trucks in 2008, compared with Toyota's 8.97 million vehicle sales that same year. • On Jan. 22, 1779, famed Tory outlaw Claudius Smith met his maker at the end of a rope in Goshen, New York, giving patriot civilians of the American Revolution hope for relief from guerrilla warfare in upstate New York. • On Jan. 23, 1960, the first two humans to reach the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench descended 36,000 feet in a submersible to the deepest part of the ocean – more than a mile deeper than the height of Mt. Everest – fortified with 15 chocolate bars for the trip. • On Jan. 24, 1922, Christian K. Nelson was inspired by a boy who came into his confectionery shop and couldn't decide between chocolate and ice cream. He combined the sweet treats and received a patent for the Eskimo bar, originally marketed as the "I-Scream" bar. • On Jan. 25, 1968, the Israeli submarine Dakar, carrying 69 sailors, disappeared. Built at the peak of World War II in Great Britain and commissioned by the British navy in 1943, it would remain missing until its wreckage was finally located in 1999 between the islands of Cyprus and Crete at a depth of some 9,800 feet. While there was speculation that the submarine was deliberately sunk, the exact cause remains unclear. © 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.
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