On This Day Archive for January 2009

January 28, 1916: Louis D. Brandeis appointed by President Wilson to the U.S. Supreme Court, the first Jewish justice

for January 28, 2009

From the January 28, 1916 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
L.D. Brandeis is named Supreme Court Justice
Boston Attorney Appointed by President Wilson to Vacancy on Highest U.S. Bench, Succeeding Justice Lamar

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Louis D. Brandeis of Boston was named by President Wilson today associate justcie of the supreme court of the United States, to [...]

January 27, 1973: The Vietnam War officially ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords

for January 27, 2009

From the January 29, 1973 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Peace up to two principals
From a signing into the unknown

PARIS –
“One chapter of our history is over,” a South Vietnamese here said as he switched on his television set to watch the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement.  “And now we launch out into the [...]

January 26, 2004: President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan

for January 26, 2009

From the January 6, 2004 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Afghans’ first stab at democracy
The new constitution grants more women’s rights than expected, challenging Islamic beliefs of warlords.

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – A funny thing happened on the way to the new Afghan Constitution. The 502 delegates actually gave women more rights than President Hamid Karzai [...]

January 25, 1915: Alexander Graham Bell placed the first transcontinental telephone call from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco

for January 25, 2009

From the January 30, 1915 edition of The Christian Science Monitor
Review of American Events
A Remarkable Achievement in Telephony
Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in New York and others in that city, Boston, and eastern points generally, found no difficulty this week in talking by telephone with persons on the Pacific coast. It is a pleasing circumstance that [...]

January 23, 1997: Madeleine Albright becomes Secretary of State, the first woman to serve as the U.S. top diplomat

for January 23, 2009

from the January 24, 1997 edition
Albright Era May Elevate Human Rights

WASHINGTON—
When President Clinton took office in 1993, he announced he would condition a renewal of Communist China’s preferential trading privileges on whether it improved its abysmal human-rights record. Neither happened.
Pressured by American firms alarmed that they would be shut out of the world’s [...]

January 22, 2006: Evo Morales is inaugurated as president of Bolivia, the nation’s first indigenous head of state

for January 22, 2009

From the January 20, 2006 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
Morales’s rise inspires Andean groups
Indigenous organizations in the region hope to gain a boost from Evo Morales’s victory in Bolivia.

LIMA, PERU – The day before Bolivia’s president-elect Evo Morales dons the presidential sash in front of more than a dozen visiting heads of [...]

January 21, 1954: The USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is launched

for January 21, 2009

From the January 21, 1954 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

Atomic Sub Marks New Era

GROTON, CONN.
Launching of the world’s first nuclear-engined submarine here today is a historic stride forward in the United States Navy’s testing of the practicality of atomic power at sea.
The Navy’s top commander, Admiral Robert B. Carney, said: “The fleet is [...]

January 20, 1986: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is observed as a federal holiday for the first time

for January 20, 2009

From the January 15, 1986 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

One Alabama county measures King’s legacy

Hayneville, Ala.ON a recent sun-pierced winter day, Annie Hrabowski, bundled in her wool hat and sweater, sat by her oil space heater with her two hunting dogs curled at her feet. As the United States prepared to celebrate the first [...]

January 19, 1981: The United States and Iran sign agreement to end the Iran hostage crisis and the 14-month captivity of 52 U.S. diplomats

for January 19, 2009

From the January 19, 1981 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

US looks beyond hostage release

WASHINGTON
As this newspaper went to press hopes were rising that an Iran-US agreement at last had been reached. The Soviets, meanwhile, were doing their best to exploit a release of the 52 hostages, an event that seemed likely to coincide [...]

January 16, 1992: El Salvador officials, rebel leaders sign peace accord, ending a 12-year civil war that cost over 75,000 lives

for January 16, 2009

From the January 16, 1992 edition of The Christian Science Monitor
Salvador Peace Pact Sets Stage for Profound
Reforms
MEXICO CITY—
ON paper, the war in El Salvador ends today.
By signing their names to the peace accord, presidents and diplomats from 12 countries gathered here will commit their nations to the close of a savage 12-year civil war that [...]