January 17
In his farewell address to the Nation, U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower warns the American people to keep a careful eye on what he calls the military-industrial complex that has developed in the post-World War II years. – 1961.
An earthquake rocks Los Angeles, Calif. and kills 54 persons and causes $20 Billion in damages. The Northridge quake, named after the San Fernando Valley community near the epicenter, was one of the most damaging in U.S. history. – 1994.
January 18
For the first time since joining the World Court in 1946, the United States walks out of a case. The case that caused the dramatic walkout concerned U.S. paramilitary activities against the Nicaraguan government. – 1985.
January 19
Following the death of Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi becomes head of the Congress Party and thus prime minister of India. She was India’s first female head of government and by the time of her assassination in 1984 was one of its most controversial. – 1966.
January 20
U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only president to be elected to four terms in office, is inaugurated to his fourth term. – 1945.
January 21
Approximately 750,000 steelworkers walk out in 30 states, largest strike in U.S. history to that time. – 1946.
U.S. president Jimmy Carter grants an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. – 1977.
January 22
The U.S. Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion by handing down its decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. Despite opponents’ characterization of the decision, it was not the first time that abortion became a legal procedure in the United States. In fact, for most of the country’s first 100 years, abortion as we know it today was not a criminal offense. It was not considered immoral. – 1973.
January 23
At Toronto General Hospital, 14-year-old Canadian Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to receive an insulin injection as treatment for diabetes. – 1922.
Machines at the Wham-O toy company roll out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discs, now known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees. – 1957.
The U.S. intelligence-gathering ship Pueblo is seized by North Korean naval vessels and charged with spying and violating North Korean territorial waters. Negotiations to free the 83-man crew of the U.S. ship dragged on for nearly a year, to damage the credibility of and confidence in the foreign policy of president Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. – 1968.
Sources: History.com, Toil and Trouble, by Thomas R. Brooks; American Labor Struggles, by Samuel Yellen; IWW calendar, Solidarity Forever; Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, edited by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan; Southwest Labor History Archives/George Meany Center; Geov Parrish’s Radical History; workday Minnesota; Andy Richards and Adam Wright, AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council.