800 – Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican.
1824 – United States presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1862 – In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
1941 – World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives the final approval to initiate war against the United States.
1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sex reassignment surgery.
1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1984 – NASA conducts the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner is deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of crashes. This was a joint research and development program by the FAA and NASA. The FAA designed the C.I.D. to underscore results of exhaustive research in two areas of aircraft safety: improved crash protection and reduced post-crash fire hazards.
Despite the fact the crash did not go exactly as designed C.I.D.did achieve its primary objectives. The crash protection objectives were: First: To obtain data on impact forces and their transmission thru the structure to the seats and occupants. Second: To evaluate the performance of existing and advanced energy absorbing seats. Third: To compare tests used to predict structural behaviour with an actual crash. AMK (anti-misting kerosene) fuel was employed in the test. The FAA has examined AMK’s potential for protecting commercial transports from ignition of misted fuels. All research indicated that AMK would be effective in preventing this problem. Click here to watch the crash.
Births
1081 – Louis VI of France (d. 1137)
1761 – Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (d. 1850)
1923 – Stansfield Turner, American admiral and academic, 12th Director of Central Intelligence
1935 – Woody Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, to Nettie (Cherrie), a bookkeeper, and Martin Konigsberg, a waiter and jewelery engraver. His father was of Russian Jewish descent, and his maternal grandparents were Austrian Jewish immigrants. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet.
1945 – Bette Midler, American singer-songwriter, actress and producer
Deaths
1135 – Henry I of England (b. 1068)
1521 – Pope Leo X (b. 1475)
1825 – Alexander I of Russia (b. 1777)
1973 – David Ben-Gurion, Polish-Israeli lawyer and politician, first Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
1975 – Ernesto Maserati, Italian race car driver and engineer (b. 1898)
1987 – James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1924)
1989 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931)
1996 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1928)