On the morning of January 13, Hawaiians were jolted by an alarming emergency alert warning of an imminent missile strike. The message, which appeared on phones, televisions, and radios, read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”…
Read MoreOn January 12, 1962, the Vietnam War crossed a quiet but decisive threshold. In a rubber plantation northwest of Saigon, American helicopters ferried South Vietnamese troops into combat against communist guerrillas, marking Operation Chopper—the first American combat mission and first U.S.-backed helicopter assault of…
Read MoreThe Persian Gulf War, also known as the First Gulf War or Operation Desert Storm, was a conflict that took place from August 2, 1990, to February 28, 1991. It was triggered by Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait, which was met with international…
Read MoreOn January 12, 1969, the New York Jets pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history, defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III. Held at the Orange Bowl in Miami, this historic victory not only cemented the Jets’…
Read MorePeople have always been passionate about their favorite sports teams. On January 11, 532, a quarrel that began among rival chariot-racing factions in the Hippodrome of Constantinople erupted into one of the most violent urban uprisings of antiquity: the Nika riots. What started as…
Read MoreOn January 11, 1927, MGM’s Louis B. Mayer forever changed the way we celebrate movies by announcing the formation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The original creation of the Academy had less to do with celebrating achievement on the big…
Read MoreOn January 11, 1973, Major League Baseball’s owners made a historic decision by approving the use of the designated hitter (DH) rule in the American League (AL). This change significantly impacted the sport’s traditional strategy and marked one of baseball’s most transformative moments in…
Read MoreOn January 10, 1946, in the austere aftermath of World War II, a small team of American scientists quietly achieved something that, in retrospect, marked the opening salvo of the Space Age. At Camp Evans, a former radar laboratory in New Jersey, the United…
Read MoreOn January 10, 1901, the fate of Texas changed forever. The eruption of the Spindletop oil gusher marked the dawn of the modern petroleum industry. This discovery transformed Texas’s economy, culture, and global standing, sparking an oil boom that defined much of the 20th…
Read MoreJulius Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon on January 10, 49 BC, marked a defining moment in Roman history, heralding a seismic shift in the Republic’s power dynamics. The Rubicon, a river that demarcated the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy proper, was more than…
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