I Can't Drive 55

January 2, 1974

The Presidential act to reduce the 70-mph speed limit to 55 mph is signed by U.S. President Richard Nixon. It was intended to save fuel in response to the 1973 oil crisis.
The crisis began the previous October when OAPEC (Arab members of OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) declared an oil embargo on the U.S., Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the U.K. for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo targeted the U.S. for resupplying the Israeli military during the war. By the time the embargo was lifted in March, the price of oil had risen nearly 400%, from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12.
The act was repealed in 1995.

First Near Moon Shot

January 2, 1959

The USSR Lunik I is launched with the objective to impact the Moon's surface. It missed, becoming the first man-made object to pass near the Moon. It then continued on and became the first man-made object to orbit the Sun.

The Life of Riley - "What a Revoltin' Development This Is!"

January 2, 1953

The Life of Riley debuts on NBC for the second time, this time starring William Bendix as Chester A. Riley, running until 1958. Bendix had played Riley on the radio version from 1944 to 1951. Riley's exclamation of "What a revoltin' development this is!" became one of the most famous catchphrases of the 1940s.
The first television version of the program started in 1949, but contractual obligations prevented Bendix from doing the show, so Jackie Gleason took the role of Riley. That version was canceled in 1950.

Hitler Named Time Magazine's Man of the Year

January 2, 1939

Adolf Hitler is named Time magazine's 1938 Man of the Year in their January 2, 1939 issue. The title was not given as an honor, but to the person they felt most influenced world events - for better or worse.
The cover of the issue showed an illustration depicting Hitler as a tiny figure with his back to the viewer, playing a massive organ with his murdered victims spinning on a St. Catherine's wheel, captioned, "From the unholy organist, a hymn of hate."
The accompanying article called Hitler the "greatest threatening force that the democratic, freedom-loving world faces today."
The following September, Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II.

President Closes Mississippi Post Office for Ousting Black Postmaster

January 2, 1903

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt closes a Mississippi post office after the local citizens forced postmaster Minnie Cox to resign because she was black.
Minnie Cox had been appointed postmaster of Indianola, Mississippi by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in 1891, making her the first African-American woman appointed federal postmaster in Mississippi. She lost her job in 1892 under President Grover Cleveland, but was reappointed in 1897 by President William McKinley and continued to serve under President Roosevelt. Although considered very good at her job and earned an "Excellent" rating from federal postal inspectors, local white citizens resented having an African-American in a government appointed job, as they felt such jobs should be given to white people. James K. Vardaman, a white supremacist and future governor of Mississippi, used his newspaper to call for her resignation, writing articles chiding whites for "tolerating a negro wench as a postmaster." Vardaman once declared, "if it is necessary every Negro in the state will be lynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy." The citizens of Indianola eventually voted for Cox to resign a year before her term was to expire. When she refused to resign, she was threatened with violence. After the mayor and sheriff refused to protect her, she offered her resignation, effective January 1, 1903. On January 2, Roosevelt refused her resignation and ordered the post office closed until she was allowed to safely resume her duties. The citizens refused to allow her to return to her duties, so the post office remained closed until the end of her term in 1904, when she was replaced by a white postmaster. During the closure, the town's mail was rerouted to a town 30 miles away and Cox moved away, but was still paid her annual salary of $1,100 (about $32,000 in 2020 dollars).
After the post office reopened, Cox and her husband returned to Indianola, where they opened the Delta Penny Savings Bank, one of the earliest black-owned banks in the state.
In 2008, the Indianola post office building was named the Minnie Cox Post Office Building "in tribute to all that she accomplished by breaking barriers."
Vardaman went on to serve as Mississippi governor (1904-08) and as U.S. Senator (Mississippi, 1913-19).
In 1898, mobs had murdered and burned the post offices and homes of two African-American postmasters in South Carolina and Georgia, even killing the infant daughter of one of the postmasters.

Isaac Asimov

Born January 2, 1920 d. 1992

Russian-born American science-fiction author and giver of the "three laws of robotics." Writings: I, Robot (1950).
Quote: "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
He died of complications of AIDS, which he contracted in 1983 from a blood transfusion.

Leader of Bacon's Rebellion

Nathaniel Bacon

Born January 2, 1647 d. 1676

American colonial leader. He led Bacon's Rebellion (1676), overthrowing the governor of Virginia and burning Jamestown to the ground. The settlers were upset due to excessive taxes, loss of self rule, and the governor's refusal to protect them against Indians. Bacon died shortly after the rebellion due to dysentery.