Today in History, January 2nd!

A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, January 2nd!

Today in history facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.

Today in History, January 2nd!

1492	The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.
1758	The French begin bombardment of Madras, India.
1788	Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1839	Photography pioneer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the moon.
1861	The USS Brooklyn is readied at Norfolk to aid Fort Sumter.
1863	In the second day of hard fighting at Stone’s River, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Union troops defeat the Confederates.
1900	Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China.
1903	President Theodore Roosevelt closes a post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to hire a Black postmistress.
1904	U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
1905	After a six-month siege, Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese.
1918	Russian Bolsheviks threaten to re-enter the war unless Germany returns occupied territory.
1932	Japanese forces in Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo.
1935	Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (He was found guilty and executed.)
1936	In Berlin, Nazi officials claim that their treatment of Jews is not the business of the League of Nations.
1942	In the Philippines, the city of Manila and the U.S. Naval base at Cavite fall to Japanese forces.
1943	The Allies capture Buna in New Guinea.
1963	In Vietnam, the Viet Cong down five U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta. 30 Americans are reported dead.
1965	The New York Jets signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for a reported $400,000.
1966	American G.I.s move into the Mekong Delta for the first time.
1973	The United States admits the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.
1974	President Richard Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph.
1980	President Jimmy Carter asks the U.S. Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet action in Afghanistan.
1981	Police in Sheffield, England, arrested Peter Sutcliffe, who confessed to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” the serial killer of 13 women.
1991	Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first African-American woman to head a city of Washington’s size and prominence.
2006	A methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia trapped 13 miners underground for more than 40 hours; only one survived.
2008	Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel for the first time.