January 15, 2020

150 years ago
1870

Politics and government
The donkey was first used as symbol of the Democratic Party in the U.S.A., in the cartoon A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly.

130 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Michiaki Kamada. Japanese military officer. Vice Admiral Kamada commanded Japanese naval forces in Borneo in 1944-1945, and was military governor of Borneo. He surrendered his forces on September 8, 1945, and was executed on October 18, 1947 at the age of 57, after being sentenced to death by a Dutch military court for the executions of 1,500 west Borneo natives in 1944 and the ill treatment of 2,000 Dutch prisoners of war held on Flores Island.

125 years ago
1895

Born on this date
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen. Finnish chemist. Dr. Virtanen was awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method." He died of pneumonia on November 11, 1973 at the age of 78, several weeks after breaking his leg in a fall.

120 years ago
1900

Canadiana
The first Canadian chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire was formed in Fredericton, New Brunswick, under the leadership of Katherine Robb Black.

110 years ago
1910

Energy
Construction ended on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 feet (99 metres).

Hockey
CHA
Montreal Le National 11 @ Quebec 12

This was the last game played in the Canadian Hockey Association, a professional league that had been formed a few weeks earlier and had begun play on December 30, 1909.

NHA
A meeting between National Hockey Association club owners and those of the Canadian Hockey Association was supposed to discuss amalgamation, but that was not discussed. Instead, the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Shamrocks were admitted to the NHA. Montreal Le National of the CHA were offered the Montreal Canadiens’ franchise, but declined. No offer to join the NHA was extended to All-Montreal or the Quebec Bulldogs, and the CHA ceased operations.

100 years ago
1920

Born on this date
John O'Connor. U.S. clergyman. Cardinal O'Connor was a U.S. Navy chaplain (1952-1979) and Archbishop of New York (1984-2000). He was created a cardinal in 1985. Cardinal O'Connor was a strong pro-life and pro-labour advocate, while often opposing U.S. military adventures. He was still in office as Archbishop of New York when he died from a brain tumour on May 3, 2000 at the age of 80.

Steve Gromek. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Gromek played with the Cleveland Indians (1941-1953) and Detroit Tigers (1953-1957), compiling a record of 123-108 with an earned run average of 3.41 in 447 games, batting .197 with no home runs and 40 runs batted in in 470 games. He was 19-9 in 1945, and 9-3 in 1948 when he helped the Indians win the World Series in 6 games, pitching a 7-hit complete game 2-1 win in game four as they took a 3-1 lead in games over the Boston Braves. Mr. Gromek died of complications from diabetes, a stroke, and pneumonia on March 12, 2002 at the age of 82.

80 years ago
1940

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Greek Interpreter

At the movies
The Fatal Hour, starring Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong, opened in theatres.



War
The Pan-American Permanent Neutrality Committee, established to serve as the interpreter of American neutrality for the duration of World War II, began work in Rio de Janeiro. U.K. submarines Starfish and Undine were sunk in a raid on German defenses at Heligoland Bight. Soviet planes bombed Abo and Viborg, Finland. Chinese dispatches claimed that the Japanese army was falling back toward Canton in the province of Kwangtung.

Politics and government
Cuban President Federico Laredo Bru signed a bill to postpone Cuban elections until March 28, 1940.

Defense
U.S. Assistant Secretary of War Louis Johnson told a group of New York bankers that the United States should be equipped for an army of one million men.

Law
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill to protect witnesses before Congress from intimidation or coercion.

Economics and finance
Bonneville Dam authorities revealed plans to establish a steel mill in Oregon to meet local needs.

75 years ago
1945

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Don't Fence Me In--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (3rd week at #1)
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Kate Smith
2 I'm Making Believe--The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald
3 I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do)--Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
--Andy Russell
--Frank Sinatra
4 The Trolley Song--The Pied Pipers
--Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra
--Judy Garland
5 Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive--Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orchestra
6 There Goes that Song Again--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra
7 Dance with a Dolly (With A Hole In Her Stockin’)--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Evelyn Knight with Camarata and his Orchestra
--Tony Pastor and his Orchestra
7 Let Me Love You Tonight (No Te Importe Saber)--Woody Herman and his Orchestra
--Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra
8 Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s An Irish Lullaby)--Bing Crosby
--Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra
9 And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine--Stan Kenton and his Orchestra
10 Tico-Tico--Charles Wolcott and his Orchestra
--Ethel Smith and Bando Carioca

Singles entering the chart were Kate Smith's version of Don't Fence Me In; Frank Sinatra's version of I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do); Kay Kyser and his Orchestra's version of There Goes that Song Again; Boogie Woogie Etude by Jose Iturbi (#27); Sleigh Ride in July, with versions by Dinah Shore and Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (#32); I Don't Want to Love You (Like I Do), with versions by Phil Brito and Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra (#42); (All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings by Martha Stewart (#44); and More and More by Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (#45).

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: Dr. Anselmo

War
The United States War Department announced that stern measures had been taken to wipe out Gestapo-like terrorism in camps in the United States housing German prisoners of war. The cease-fire in Greece between British forces and Greek rebel ELAS forces went into effect at 12:01 A.M. U.S. troops in Belgium entered Houffalize and drove to within 6 miles of St. Vith, further reducing the German salient. Allied forces seized the Dutch city of Bakenhoven and cleared Achouffe, Mont, and Tavernaux. Soviet troops in Poland reached within 21 miles northeast of Krakow. U.S. troops in the Philippines were reported 28 miles inland from their Luzon beachhead, driving into the province of Tarlac and meeting little Japanese resistance. The U.S.A. announced that the Burma-China supply road was complete but not yet operable, as the Japanese still held Wanting on the border.

Economics and finance
U.S. Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion James Byrnes called on Selective Service Director Lewis Hershey to apply a priority system to control inductions of war workers in order to give the maximum protection to war production.

Energy
The U.S. War Production Board announced that effective February 1, 1945, outdoor illumination for advertising and the like would be ended to save an estimated two million tons of coal annually.

70 years ago
1950

Died on this date
Hap Arnold, 63. U.S. military officer. General Arnold was one of the first military pilots, joining the U.S. Army in 1907. He was Chief of the Army Air Corps (1938-1941) and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He held the rank of General of the Army, and when the Air Force was created as a separate service in 1947, was named General of the Air Force, and remains the only person to hold that rank. In 1945, Gen. Arnold directed the founding of the think tank that became the RAND Corporation. He retired in 1947, and died at his home in California after a series of heart attacks.

Archaeology
The New York Times reported the discovery of the 700-year-old crown of King Alfonso X of Spain and other historical items in tombs beneath Toledo Cathedral.

World events
Bolivia exiled retired General Bernadino Rioja, leader of an alleged fascist revolutionary plot, and nine other rightists to Chile.

Diplomacy
The U.S. State Department reported Communist seizure of French and Dutch diplomatic properties in China.

Meeting in Bonn with West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman rejected West German demands for a plebiscite to end French domination of the Saar.

Economics and finance
West Germany's Allied Joint Export-Import Agency vetoed a $1-million sale of German steel to Communist China as "politically undesirable."

Hockey
NHL
Detroit 1 @ New York 0

Rookie goaltender Terry Sawchuk recorded the first of his 103 career regular season NHL shutouts as the Red Wings edged the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

60 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (5th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (5th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: I Shot an Arrow Into the Air, starring Dewey Martin and Edward Binns

50 years ago
1970

Hit parade
Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Sugar, Sugar--The Archies (5th week at #1)
2 Venus--The Shocking Blue
3 Anuschka--Udo Jürgens
4 Geh' nicht vorbei--Christian Anders
5 (Call Me) Number One--The Tremeloes
6 Oh Well--Fleetwood Mac
7 Come Together--The Beatles
8 Tarata-Ting, Tarata-Tong--Mireille Mathieu
9 Down on the Corner--Creedence Clearwater Revival
10 Don't Forget to Remember--The Bee Gees

Singles entering the chart were (Call Me) Number One; Down on the Corner; Weiße Rosen by Gitte (#11); Sweet Dream by Jethro Tull (#13); One Million Years by Robin Gibb (#19); Dein schönstes Geschenk (#20)/An einem Tag (#21) by Roy Black; Das Wunder aller Wunder ist die Liebe by Mireille Mathieu (#23); Three-Five-Zero-Zero by the Lords (#27); and Nie mehr allein by Christian Anders (#28).

Died on this date
William T. Piper. U.S. aviation executive. Mr. Piper was a U.S. Army officer for 18 years before serving as president of Piper Aircraft Corporation from 1929-1970. He died a week after his 89th birthday, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1980.

Space
The U.S.A. launched Intelsat III F-6, the first of three global telecommunications satellites to be launched in 1970 to complete an eight-satellite commercial system operated by the multinational International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium.

War
The Nigerian Civil War officially ended with Biafra signing a surrender statement. The area again became Central Eastern State, one of 12 making up Nigeria, and once the best-developed area in all of Negro Africa. The 31-month war had shrunk the enclave, which once had a population of 12 million--2/3 of them of the Ibo tribe, the most capable tribe in Africa--at the outset, to 3.5 million, existing mostly on butterflies and roots when they could find them, and to 1,500 square miles from the original 30,000 square miles. A Red Cross spokesman estimated that there were 5 million starving Biafran refugees behind federal Nigerian military lines at the time of the collapse of Biafra on January 12.

North Vietnam’s representatives at the Vietnam peace talks in Paris rejected U.S. President Richard Nixon’s three criteria for the withdrawal of American troops (progress in the peace talks; reduction of the level of fighting; and evidence that South Vietnamese forces could assume the burden of national defense) because they "in fact can never be met," and charged that the real policy of the U.S.A. was an indefinite military occupation of South Vietnam. The American delegate assailed the other side’s speech as one-sided, distorted, and valueless.

Environment
Construction of a major international jetport near the Florida Everglades was banned for conservation reasons in an agreement announced by the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the nation’s economic growth had halted in the last three months of 1969 in keeping with the policy of restraint of the administration of President Richard Nixon. Prices continued to rise strongly, but not, the report said, so strongly as they might have without the policy.

40 years ago
1980

Hit parade
Austria's Top 10 (Ö3)
1 Video Killed the Radio Star--The Buggles (3rd week at #1)
2 We Don't Talk Anymore--Cliff Richard
3 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)--ABBA
4 Lucifer--The Alan Parsons Project
5 Babe it's Up to You--Smokie
6 Todesengel--Frank Duval & Orchestra
7 Don't Bring Me Down--Electric Light Orchestra
8 I Have a Dream--ABBA
9 Confusion--Electric Light Orchestra
10 Bobby Brown--Frank Zappa

Singles entering the chart were I Have a Dream; Confusion; I'm Born Again by Boney M. (#19); and Zabadak by Saragaossa Band (#20).

World events
Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq appealed for international aid and support.

Defense
Yugoslavia placed its army on partial alert.

Politics and government
Finance Minister Abolhassan Bani-Sadr was elected President of Iran with 75% of the vote. He had been the only revolutionary leader to openly criticize the terrorists who had seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.

Law
A judge in New Delhi dismissed two cases against Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi arising from her rule in 1975.

Economics and finance
The price of gold passed $700 U.S. per ounce.

30 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Christmas Eve--Tatsuro Yamashita (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (7th week at #1)

Died on this date
Gordon Jackson, 66. U.K. actor. Mr. Jackson appeared in numerous films and television programs, but was best known for playing butler Angus Hudson in the television series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971-1975), winning an Emmy Award. He played George Cowley in the television series The Professionals (1977-1983). Mr. Jackson died of bone cancer.

War
With guerrillas fighting in the Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in what had virtually become an ethnic civil war, the Soviet government sent troops into the area. The Azerbaijanis resisted, destroying or blockading bridges, roads, and rail lines. Some troops were killed.

Protest
100,000 people gathered outside the headquarters of the East German state security service, and the peaceful rally soon turned violent. Many in the crowd stormed the headquarters, generally tore up the interior, and destroyed or threw out thousands of documents.

Transportation
Major reductions in VIA Rail service took effect, eliminating at least 14 of the railway’s 38 routes and more than 2,500 jobs. The nationwide cuts had been announced in October as part of a Canadian government plan to cut subsidies to VIA from $641 million in 1988 to $350 million in 1992.

25 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Here Comes the Hotstepper--Ini Kamoze

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): An Angel--The Kelly Family (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (8th week at #1)

Football
NFL
AFC Championship
San Diego 17 @ Pittsburgh 13



NFC Championship
Dallas 28 @ San Francisco 38



20 years ago
2000

Died on this date
Georges-Henri Lévesque, 96. Canadian clergyman. Rev. Lévesque was a Roman Catholic Dominican priest and sociologist who taught at Université Laval (1936-1962), and founded the university's School of Social, Political and Economic Sciences in 1938. He was regarded as a liberalizing figure during the Union Nationale government of Premier Maurice Duplessis (1944-1959). Rev. Lévesque accepted the offer of an appointment to the Canadian Senate from Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent in 1955, but the appointment was vetoed by Quebec Archbishop Maurice Roy, who was concerned about possible embarrassment to the Church of having a priest hold a political office. Rev. Lévesque founded Université Nationale du Rwanda in 1963, and served as its founding president until 1971.

Arkan (Zeljko Raznatovic), 47. Serbian warlord. Head of the paramilitary Tigers, Arkan was accused of war crimes in the Bosnian and Croatian wars between 1991 and 1995. He was on Interpol’s most-wanted list for crimes including bank robbery and extortion. Arkan was assassinated in a Belgrade hotel.

Protest
150,000 people in Cuba rallied to protest the U.S. refusal to return 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba. The boy was in the temporary custody of relatives in Florida pending a court ruling on whether he should be returned to his father in Cuba.

Politics and government
Candidates for the Republican Party U.S. presidential nomination for 2000 debated in Johnston, Iowa. Senator John McCain claimed that Texas Governor George W. Bush’s tax cut plan would endanger Social Security, while Alan Keyes, who wanted the income tax eliminated altogether, called it a "slave tax."

Football
NFL
AFC Divisional Playoff
Miami 7 @ Jacksonville 62





NFC Divisional Playoff
Washington 13 @ Tampa Bay 14