Category Archives: Presidential History

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice).

National Carrot Cake Day

Anniversary of the issuance of the first paper money in the U.S. in 1690.

1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crushed the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.

1809 – The Illinois Territory was created.

Birthday of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (February 3, 1809), German composer, pianist, and conductor. His “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream was played at the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Victoria, The Princess Royal, to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia in 1858, and it remains popular at marriage ceremonies.

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to citizens regardless of race.

Amendment XV
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

According to Wikipedia:

The amendment had been voted on in the House where the vote was 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it, some because they thought the amendment did not go far enough in its protections.

The Senate passed the amendment with a vote of 39 Republican votes of “Yea”, 8 Democrat and 5 Republican votes of “Nay”; 13 Republican and 1 Democrat not voting.

1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

Amendment XVI

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Little Known Fact: The first U.S. tax code, as enacted in 1913, was about 400 pages long. Today, the law regulating the assessment and collection of federal income tax spans over 70,000 pages.

1924-Death of Woodrow Wilson (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson), twenty-eighth President of the United States. He died at Washington, D. C. at age 67 following a stroke. He is interred at the Washington National Cathedral

February 3, 1959 – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson Jr.) died in a plane crash in Iowa on the “Day The Music Died“

Per Wikipedia: The Winter Dance Party tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel created logistical problems, as the distance between venues had not been considered when scheduling each performance. Adding to the problem, the unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with dire consequences. Holly’s drummer Carl Bunch suffered frostbite to his toes (while aboard the bus) and was hospitalized, so Buddy Holly made the decision to find another means of transportation. Before their performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane at Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, for himself, Waylon Jennings, and Tommy Allsup, to avoid the long bus trip to their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Following the Clear Lake show (which ended around midnight), Allsup lost a coin toss and gave up his seat on the charter plane to Ritchie Valens, while Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from the flu and complaining about how cold and uncomfortable the tour bus was for a man of his size. When Holly learned that his band mates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, a friendly banter between Holly and Jennings ensued, and it would come back to haunt Jennings for decades to follow: Holly jokingly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” Less than an hour and a half later, shortly after 1:00 AM on February 3, 1959 (later known as The Day the Music Died), Holly’s charter plane crashed at full throttle into a cornfield outside Mason City, Iowa, instantly killing all on board…For decades afterward, Jennings repeatedly admitted that he felt responsible for the crash that killed Buddy Holly.

January 30 is:

National Inane Answering Message Day

National Croissant Day

1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England was ritually executed two years after his death, on the anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.

According to Wikipedia:

Cromwell died on Friday, 3 September 1658. On 30 January 1661, (the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I), Cromwell’s body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution, as were the remains of Robert Blake, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton…. His disinterred body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, and then thrown into a pit. Cromwell’s severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. Afterwards it allegedly was owned by various people and was publicly exhibited several times. Afterwards, the head changed hands several times, including its sale in 1814 to Josiah Henry Wilkinson, before eventually being buried beneath the floor of the antechapel at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960. The exact position was not publicly disclosed…

However, many people began to question whether or not the body mutilated at Tyburn was in fact that of Cromwell. These doubts arose because it was assumed that between his death in September 1658 and the exhumation of January 1661, Cromwell’s body was buried and reburied in several places to protect it from vengeful royalists. The stories suggest that his bodily remains are buried in London, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire or Yorkshire. It continues to be questioned whether the body mutilated at Tyburn was in fact that of Oliver Cromwell.

Publication of Federalist Paper #47: The Particular Structure of the New Government and the Distribution of Power Among Its Different Parts written by James Madison in 1788. It was argued that there must be total separation between the branches of government per writings by Montesquieu. Madison concludes by implying Montesquieu did not mean there had to be total separation of distinct branches of government only that the same person or group could not directly control the actions of more than one branch. Madison considers separation of powers to provide “checks and balances”. He examines the state constitutions and finds that none have absolute separation of the branches.

1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house-painter from England, attempted to shoot President Andrew Jackson, but failed and was subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen. He aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. Historians believe the humid weather contributed to the double misfiring. Lawrence was restrained, and legend says that Jackson attacked Lawrence with his cane. Others present, including David Crockett, restrained and disarmed Lawrence.

In 1847 Yerba Buena, (good herb) California was renamed San Francisco. (“I left my heart in Yerba Buena” has a pleasant ring to it!) San Francisco was called Yerba Buena because of a fragrant, mint-like herb (Clinopodium douglasii) that grew abundantly in the area,… and was used for tea and medicine by native Ohlone people and early settlers. The Spanish named the area and its bay anchorage “Yerba Buena,” and the settlement that grew there retained the name until it was officially changed to San Francisco in 1847.
“The name was officially changed to San Francisco on January 30, 1847, for two primary reasons:

International Recognition: The town’s American alcalde (mayor), Lieutenant Washington Allon Bartlett, noted that the name “Yerba Buena” was only known locally. International maps already labeled the area as “San Francisco,” named for the nearby mission and bay; changing the town’s name allowed it to take advantage of this existing global recognition.
A Rivalry with “Francisca”: A competing town being planned nearby (at the mouth of the Sacramento River) was intended to be named Francisca to capitalize on the bay’s fame. By quickly claiming the name “San Francisco,” Bartlett effectively eclipsed the rival town before it could establish its identity. As a result, the other town was renamed Benicia, after the middle name of the same noblewoman it was originally trying to honor.”

The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched in 1862.

Birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882), thirty-second president of the United States

Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.

Birthday of Richard Bruce (Dick) Cheney (January 30, 1941), vice-president during the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009). VP Cheney died Nov 3, 2025.

On January 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.

1959 – Danish liner, MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, killing all 95 aboard.

January 8 is:

Bubble Bath Day

National English Toffee Day

Feast of St. Erhard of Regensburg, patron saint for livestock; Images of him were used as Schluckbildchen (Schluckbildchen; from German, means literally “swallowable pictures”, small notes of paper that have a sacred image on them with the purpose of being swallowed.) They were used as a religious practice in the folk medicine and given to sick animals during the eighteenth, nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century.

1642 Astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.

Publication of Federalist Paper #36: Concerning the General Power of Taxation written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788. Hamilton details the government’s need for a body of tax collectors knowledgeable of every district, so as to establish a value to be taxed. He claims that this will be accomplished by using the same tax collectors as the state governments do. Hamilton argues against a poll tax. The argument arises that the Federal Government would lack information about the needs and circumstances of each state. Hamilton again uses the argument that each state has representatives who would be familiar and knowledgeable about the needs of their state. (Why did the 17th Amendment pass?)

Anniversary of the first State of the Union message by President George Washington in 1790. Text may be found at The American Presidency Project

Battle of New Orleans Day or Old Hickory’s Day, or Jackson Day. Commemorates the historic battle with the British won by Andrew Jackson in 1815. The battle took place 18 days after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which formally ended the War of 1812, on December 24, 1814, though it would not be ratified by the United States (and therefore did not take effect) until February 16, 1815, as news of the agreement had not yet reached the United States from Europe.

1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.

1856 – Dr. John A. Veatch discovers borax at Tuscan Springs, California. Wagons pulled by teams of twenty mules each give rise to the brand “Twenty Mule Team Borax.”

1889 – Herman Hollerith was issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator. Remember punch cards? An extra hole or two from a hand-held clandestine punch could gum things up… “Keypunch operator” was one of the careers for which one could train and was my first job in 1960.

1918 – President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.

Birthday of Elvis Presley (January 8, 1935), American singer, musician, and actor. Cultural icon of the 20th Century.

1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “War on Poverty” in the United States. According to the Heritage Foundation:

In the 50 years since that time, U.S. taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Adjusted for inflation, this spending (which does not include Social Security or Medicare) is three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the American Revolution. Yet progress against poverty, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, has been minimal, and in terms of President Johnson’s main goal of reducing the “causes” rather than the mere “consequences” of poverty, the War on Poverty has failed completely. In fact, a significant portion of the population is now less capable of self-sufficiency than it was when the War on Poverty began.

January 7 is:

According to National Today.com, January 7th is National Tempura Day “It is always a yummy time to celebrate tempura, a fantastic Japanese dish made from deep-frying vegetables, seafood, or other foods dipped in a light batter of flour, eggs, and water. Tempura has been with us for about three centuries. Although the Portuguese living in Nagasaki in the 16th century introduced it, tempura has become entrenched in Japanese culture, and you can find tempura everywhere in Japan today. On this day, you can enjoy tempura in different ways, including with a dipping sauce or something more experimental like tempura ice cream.”

Old Rock Day The unofficial holiday encourages people to acknowledge, celebrate, and learn more about old rocks and fossils.

Anniversary of First U.S. Presidential Election – The first presidential election was held on the first Wednesday of January in 1789. No one contested the election of George Washington.

Christmas observed by the Russian Orthodox Church in accordance with the Julian calendar.

Birthday of Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800), thirteenth president of the United States. President Zachary Taylor died July 9, 1850 and Vice-President Fillmore was sworn in the next day. Fillmore accepted the resignations of all the department heads and appointed an entirely new cabinet. Fillmore was the first President who was a health nut. He did not smoke or drink, and was fastidious about measures he believed could affect his physical well-being. For example, one hot summer night in Washington, he left the White House to sleep in the cooler and breezier part of Washington known as Georgetown because of the malaria risk.

First Lady Abigail Fillmore was appalled to find no books in the White House, supposedly not even a Bible. Of this omission was to come her greatest gift: the White House Library.

On January 7, 1904 the distress signal “CQD” was established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS”. Land telegraphs had adopted the convention of using “CQ” (“sécu”, from the French word sécurité) to identify alert, or precautionary messages of interest to all stations along a telegraph line. CQ had then been adopted in maritime radiotelegraphy as a “general call” to any ship or land station.

From wikipedia:

In landline use there was no general emergency signal, so the Marconi company added a “D” (“distress”) to CQ in order to create a distress call. Sending “D” was already used internationally to indicate an urgent message. Thus, “CQD” was understood by wireless operators to mean All stations: Distress.

At the first International Radiotelegraphic Convention, held in Berlin in 1906, Germany’s Notzeichen distress signal of three-dots three-dashes three-dots ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ) was adopted as the international Morse code distress signal. This distress signal soon became known as “SOS” because it has the same dash-dot sequence as the letters S O S with the gaps between the letters removed, and in fact it is properly written SOS, with an overbar, to distinguish it from the three individual letters. In contrast, CQD is transmitted as three distinct letters with a short gap between each, like regular text. The SOS distress code is also easier to hear as it is nine symbols long, while no other character or sign is longer than six symbols.

From 1899 to 1908, nine documented rescues were made by the use of wireless. The earliest of these was a distress call from the East Goodwin lightship. However, for the earliest of these, there was no standardized distress signal. The first US ship to send a wireless distress call in 1905 simply sent HELP (in both International Morse and American Morse). 

On 7 December 1903, Ludwig Arnson was a wireless operator aboard the liner SS Kroonland when she lost a propeller off the Irish coast. His call of CQD brought aid from a British cruiser. In 1944 Mr. Arnson received the Marconi Memorial Medal of Achievement in recognition of his sending the first wireless distress signal.[9] By February 1904, the Marconi Wireless Company required all its operators to use CQD for a ship in distress or for requiring URGENT assistance.[1] In the early morning of 23 January 1909, whilst sailing into New York from Liverpool, RMS Republic collided with the Italian liner SS Florida in fog off the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States. Radio Operator Jack Binns sent the CQD distress signal by wireless transmission.

On 15 April 1912, RMS Titanic radio operator Jack Phillips initially sent “CQD”, which was still commonly used by British ships. Harold Bride, the junior radio operator, suggested using SOS, saying half-jokingly that it might be his last chance to use the new code. Phillips thereafter began to alternate between the two.[4]: 1911  Although Bride survived, Phillips perished in the sinking.

President Harry S. Truman announced in his State of the Union address of 1953 that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.

The United States recognized Fidel Castro‘s new government in Cuba in 1959.

In 1968 First Class Postage increased from 5¢ to 6¢.

January 7, 1969 US Congress doubled presidential salary from $100,000 to $200,000 per year.

Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government in 1979. The Khmer Rouge leadership boasted over the state-controlled radio that only one or two million people were needed to build the new agrarian communist utopia. As for the others, as their proverb put it, “To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.” Head of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot presided over a government that killed 1-3 million people, about 20% of the Cambodian population.