On This Day

On Jan. 25, 2004, the NASA rover Opportunity landed on Mars. It joined its twin, Spirit, which had landed three weeks earlier.

On Jan. 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold in a river near Sutter’s mill, sparking the California Gold Rush.

On Jan. 23, 1968, North Korea captured the USS Pueblo Navy ship, holding the crew captive for 11 months.

On Jan. 22, 1998, Ted Kaczynski—aka the Unabomber—evaded the death penalty on a plea bargain.

On Jan. 21, 1950, a federal jury in New York City convicted former State Department official and alleged communist spy Alger Hiss of perjury.

On Jan. 20, 2004, the Salvation Army announced that McDonald's heiress Joan Kroc had bequeathed roughly $1.5 billion to the charity, the largest individual donation ever given to an organization.

On Jan. 19, 1966, Indira Gandhi succeeded Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to become the first female leader of the Indian government.

On Jan. 18, 1778, Capt. James Cook arrived at the Hawaiian Islands. Just over a year later, he was killed by one of the islands’ inhabitants.

On Jan. 17, 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Kobe, Japan. It was especially deadly because it occurred so close to an urban center.

On Jan. 16, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution became law, banning the production, transportation and sale of alcohol.

On Jan. 15, 1971, Egypt celebrated the completion of the Aswan High Dam; the dam’s funding was the center of a Cold War dispute that led to the 1956 Suez Crisis.

On Jan. 14, 1954, former Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio and Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe married at the San Francisco City Hall. The couple divorced only nine months later.

On Jan. 13, 1968, singer Johnny Cash dragged his career out of the doldrums with an album recorded inside Folsom Prison before an audience of inmates.

On Jan. 12, 1969, quarterback Joe Namath led the New York Jets to a 16–7 victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the first game officially known as the “Super Bowl.”

On Jan. 11, 2003, Ill. Gov. George Ryan announced that he was commuting the sentences of 167 death row prisoners due to “the demon of error” in the capital punishment system.

On Jan. 10, 2000, Internet service provider AOL bought the media and communications conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in history. The new company was originally valued at $350 billion, but it soon lost money.

On Jan. 9, 1972, the British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth burst into flames and sank in Victoria Harbour. Although the fires were determined to be the work of arsonists, no one has ever been charged with the crime.

On Jan. 8, 1815, Gen. Andrew Jackson led American troops to victory in the last major conflict of the War of 1812, two weeks after both nations had signed a peace treaty. Jackson’s military success would later propel him to the presidency.

On Jan. 7, 1999, the Senate began hearings on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice arising from President Bill Clinton’s affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

On Jan. 6, 1540, King Henry VIII of England wed Anne of Cleves, the fourth of his six wives. The marriage ended in divorce just six months later.

On Jan. 5, 1968, Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He initiated the “Prague Spring,” a period of liberalization in the socialist state that prompted violent Soviet suppression.

On Jan. 4, 1948, Burma ended 60 years of colonial rule when it officially declared independence from Britain.

On Jan. 3, 1870, Washington Roebling began construction on the Brooklyn Bridge; when it opened 13 years later, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world.

On Jan. 2, 1929, Canada and the United States agreed to divert the Niagara River to protect the world famous falls.

On Jan. 1, 1959, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba as Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces seized control of the country.

On Dec. 31, 1972, Roberto Clemente, all-star outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was killed en route to deliver assistance to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. His humanitarian legacy survives to this day.

On Dec. 30, 1922, Russia and three other republics formed the constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

On Dec. 29, 1890, U.S. soldiers killed 200-300 unarmed Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee, S.D., in what is considered the final significant battle of the Indian Wars.

On Dec. 28, 1908, the most destructive earthquake in European history struck northern Sicily and the southern tip of mainland Italy, destroying the city of Messina and killing more than 100,000 people in Italy.

Many significant events have taken place on Dec. 25, including the rise of famous leaders, the fall of others, and the end of war for a single day.