On January 31, 1950, President Truman announces that the US will begin working on a Hydrogen bomb – 100s of times more powerful then the atomic bomb. The US succeeds in testing the H-bomb in Nov. 1952.
On January 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist. Gandhi believed in nonviolent protest and helped lead Indians against the British.
On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scouts movement begins in England with the publication of the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys. The Boy Scouts come to the US in 1910.
On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court made its Roe vs. Wade decision, legalizing abortion by arguing that as a part of a woman’s right to privacy she can terminate a pregnancy in the 1st 2 trimesters.
On Jan. 19, 1950, the People’s Republic of China officially recognizes North Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh. This led financial & military assistance that Minh needed to help fight off the French.
On Jan. 18, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson attends the Paris Peace Conference with other Allied leaders to begin writing the Treaty of Versailles that would formally end World War I.
On Jan. 17, 1893, Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown as a group of American businessmen and sugar planters led by Sanford Ballard Dole forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate her throne.
On Jan. 16, 1919 the 18th Amendment was ratified & prohibition took effect in the US. Also, in 1991 Operation Desert Storm began to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War
On Jan. 11, 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt designates the Grand Cannon as a national monument, thereby insuring its preservation for generations of visitors in the future.