Updated January 30, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.
On Jan. 31, 1919, Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, was born. Following his death on Oct. 24, 1972, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1606 Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed. 1797 Composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria. 1865 Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies. 1917 Germany announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. 1919 Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke the sport’s color barrier in 1947, was born in Cairo, Ga. 1944 U.S. forces invaded the Japanese-held Marshall Islands during World War II. 1945 Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion. 1949 The first TV daytime soap opera, “These Are My Children,” was broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago. 1950 President Harry S. Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb. 1971 Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on the third successful manned mission to the moon. 1990 McDonald’s Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow. 2000 An Alaska Airlines jet plunged into the ocean off Southern California on a flight from Mexico to San Francisco, killing all 88 people on board. 2001 A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. 2006 Samuel Alito was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. 2006 The Senate approved Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. 2011 Egypt’s military promised not to fire on peaceful protests and recognized “the legitimacy of the people’s demands.” 2011 Myanmar opened its first parliament in more than two decades. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Singer-actor Justin Timberlake turns 31 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Baseball Hall of Famer and Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan turns 65 years old today.
AP Photo/LM Otero
1921 Carol Channing, Actress, turns 91 1931 Ernie Banks, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 81 1937 Philip Glass, Composer, turns 75 1938 Queen Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands, turns 74 1941 Richard Gephardt, Former House minority leader, turns 71 1941 Jessica Walter, Actress (“Arrested Development”), turns 71 1951 KC, Singer, musician (KC and the Sunshine Band), turns 61 1956 Johnny Rotten, Rock singer (The Sex Pistols), turns 56 1959 Anthony LaPaglia, Actor (“Without a Trace”), turns 53 1970 Minnie Driver, Actress, turns 42 1973 Portia de Rossi, Actress (“Arrested Development,” “Ally McBeal”), turns 39 1977 Bobby Moynihan, Actor, comedian (“Saturday Night Live”), turns 35 1977 Kerry Washington, Actress, turns 35
Historic Birthdays
Jackie Robinson 1/31/1919 – 10/24/1972 African/American baseball player.Go to obituary »
72 Robert Morris 1/31/1734 – 5/8/1806
American merchant/banker54 Andre-Jacques Garnerin 1/31/1769 – 8/18/1823
French parachutist85 Charles Green 1/31/1785 – 3/26/1870
English balloonist70 Sam Loyd 1/31/1841 – 4/10/1911
American puzzlemaker58 George Perkins 1/31/1862 – 6/18/1920
American insurance executive67 Zane Grey 1/31/1872 – 10/23/1939
American Western writer49 Anna Pavlova 1/31/1881 (O.S.) – 1/23/1931
Russian ballerina72 Eddie Cantor 1/31/1892 – 10/10/1964
American comedian84 Alva Myrdal 1/31/1902 – 2/1/1986
Swedish diplomat65 John O’Hara 1/31/1905 – 4/11/1970
American writer53 Thomas Merton 1/31/1915 – 12/10/1968
American Catholic monk/poet
