What Happened On
KISS
January 30, 1973
The glitter-rock group Kiss gives their first public performance - at New York's Coventry Club in Queens. Less than 10 people attended. However, the band quickly built a following and became one of the best-selling bands of all time. The band's lineup consisted of Paul Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals and bass), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals), and Peter Criss (drums and vocals).
The Beatles - Rooftop Concert
January 30, 1969
The Beatles give their last public performance - an unannounced rooftop concert on their Apple headquarters in London. The group was joined by Billy Preston and played for 42 minutes before the gig ended after an accountant from the nearby Royal Bank of Scotland called the police to stop the noise.
Vietnam War - Tet Offensive
January 30, 1968
North Vietnamese troops launch a massive attack against Saigon. Even though after a month of fighting the U.S. ultimately won the battle, this undermined claims just two months earlier by Commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam General William Westmoreland that the communists were losing the war. This marked the turning point of public sentiment turning against the war.
Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
January 30, 1933
The Nazi leader Adolf Hitler takes office as Chancellor of Germany.
City Lights
January 30, 1931
Charlie Chaplin's classic City Lights premieres in Los Angeles. Even though a silent film at a time when almost all new films were talkies, it was highly successful and is considered by film critics to be one of the best films of all time. The story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl was written, produced, directed by, and starred Chaplin.
Launching the USS Monitor
Launching the USS Monitor
First Union Ironclad Warship
January 30, 1862
The USS Monitor is launched in New York. It was built in response to news the Confederate navy was adding iron plates to the CSS Virginia. The Monitor would participate in the Battle of the Ironclads with the Virginia in March. It survived the battle, but sank in a storm off the coast of North Carolina the following December. The Battle of the Ironclads brought about the end to wooden warships.
First U.S. Presidential Assassination Attempt
January 30, 1835
Richard Lawrence tries to shoot President Andrew Jackson, but his gun misfires. Jackson beat him with his cane until Lawrence was subdued. Lawrence was found to be insane and spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.
First Brawl on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
January 30, 1798
During an argument, Matthew Lyon (Vermont) spits tobacco juice in the face of Roger Griswold (Connecticut). Lyon later gave a written apology for the incident. Two weeks later, after a resolution to remove Lyon failed, Griswold attacked Lyon with his cane. Lyon retreated to a fire pit and defended himself with the fire tongs until other Congressmen broke up the fight.
Watergate
January 30, 1973
G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord are convicted of breaking into and wiretapping the Democratic Party headquarters.
Sunday Bloody Sunday
January 30, 1972
Twenty-six unarmed protesters and bystanders are shot by the British Army in Northern Ireland during a civil rights march, 14 of whom died. The incident was the basis for the U2 song Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983).
First U.S. Spacecraft to Strike the Moon
January 30, 1964
Ranger 6 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, striking the Moon on February 2. Unfortunately, its camera equipment failed to operate.
Ronald Reagan Hosts This is Your Life
January 30, 1957
Future U.S. President Ronald Reagan guest hosts the TV show This Is Your Life, filling in for Ralph Edwards who was ill.
His guest was Commander Hugh Barr Miller, Jr. who described his World War II survival story. Reagan would also fill in the following week.
Birthdays
Dick Cheney (Richard Bruce Cheney)
Born January 30, 1941
American politician. 46th U.S. Vice-President (2001-09).
First Vietnam Soldier to Receive the U.S. Medal of Honor
Roger Donlon (Roger Hugh Charles Donlon)
Born January 30, 1934 d. 2024
American soldier. He was the first Vietnam soldier to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor, for heroism in South Vietnam (1964).
On July 6th, 1964, Capt. Donlon was serving as the commanding officer of the U.S. Army Special Forces Detachment A-726 at Camp Nam Dong when a reinforced Viet Cong battalion suddenly launched a full-scale, predawn attack on the camp. During the violent battle that ensued, lasting 5 hours and resulting in heavy casualties on both sides, Capt. Donlon directed the defense operations in the midst of an enemy barrage of mortar shells, falling grenades, and extremely heavy gunfire. Upon the initial onslaught, he swiftly marshaled his forces and ordered the removal of the needed ammunition from a blazing building. He then dashed through a hail of small arms and exploding hand grenades to abort a breach of the main gate. En route to this position he detected an enemy demolition team of 3 in the proximity of the main gate and quickly annihilated them. Although exposed to the intense grenade attack, he then succeeded in reaching a 60mm mortar position despite sustaining a severe stomach wound as he was within 5 yards of the gun pit. When he discovered that most of the men in this gunpit were also wounded, he completely disregarded his own injury, directed their withdrawal to a location 30 meters away, and again risked his life by remaining behind and covering the movement with the utmost effectiveness. Noticing that his team sergeant was unable to evacuate the gun pit he crawled toward him and, while dragging the fallen soldier out of the gunpit, an enemy mortar exploded and inflicted a wound in Capt. Donlon's left shoulder. Although suffering from multiple wounds, he carried the abandoned 60mm mortar weapon to a new location 30 meters away where he found 3 wounded defenders. After administering first aid and encouragement to these men, he left the weapon with them, headed toward another position, and retrieved a 57mm recoilless rifle. Then with great courage and coolness under fire, he returned to the abandoned gun pit, evacuated ammunition for the 2 weapons, and while crawling and dragging the urgently needed ammunition, received a third wound on his leg by an enemy hand grenade. Despite his critical physical condition, he again crawled 175 meters to an 81mm mortar position and directed firing operations which protected the seriously threatened east sector of the camp. He then moved to an eastern 60mm mortar position and upon determining that the vicious enemy assault had weakened, crawled back to the gun pit with the 60mm mortar, set it up for defensive operations, and turned it over to 2 defenders with minor wounds. Without hesitation, he left this sheltered position, and moved from position to position around the beleaguered perimeter while hurling hand grenades at the enemy and inspiring his men to superhuman effort. As he bravely continued to move around the perimeter, a mortar shell exploded, wounding him in the face and body. As the long awaited daylight brought defeat to the enemy forces and their retreat back to the jungle leaving behind 54 of their dead, many weapons, and grenades, Capt. Donlon immediately reorganized his defenses and administered first aid to the wounded.
Invented the Mouse
Douglas Engelbart
Born January 30, 1925 d. 2013
American computer scientist. Inventor of the computer mouse (1967).
Photo Credit: FDR Presidential Library & Museum
Photo Credit: FDR Presidential Library & Museum
Franklin D. Roosevelt (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)
Born January 30, 1882 d. 1945
American politician. 32nd U.S. President (1933-45), Governor of New York (1929-33). He died in office, making Vice-President Harry S. Truman president.
At age 39, Roosevelt was struck with paralysis, then diagnosed as poliomyelitis, although many now believe it is more likely he had Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS).
In 1938, Roosevelt founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now known as the March of Dimes. The organization supported the work of Jonas Salk and others that led to the development of polio vaccines.
Photo Credit: Ron Moody
Photo Credit: Ron Moody
Eduard Bloch
Born January 30, 1872 d. 1945
Austrian Jewish doctor. He was Adolf Hitler's family doctor when Hitler was a child. When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Bloch wrote Hitler who, even though Bloch was Jewish, granted him special protection by the Gestapo, allowing him to immigrate to the United States. He died several months after Hitler committed suicide.
The original "Purple Cow", from 1895
The original "Purple Cow", from 1895
I Never Saw a Purple Cow
Gelett Burgess (Frank Gelett Burgess)
Born January 30, 1866 d. 1951
American author, humorist, illustrator. In 1895, he wrote the famous quatrain:
"I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I rather see than be one."
He also coined the word "blurb" in 1907 to describe to the material on a book jacket that praises the book, stating, "To 'blurb' is to make a sound like a publisher. …A blurb is a check drawn on Fame, and it is seldom honored."
Felipe VI (Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos)
Born January 30, 1968
King of Spain (2014‑).
Phil Collins
Born January 30, 1951
British drummer, singer, with Genesis. Music: In The Air Tonight (1981) and Sussudio (1985, #1).
Vanessa Redgrave
Born January 30, 1937
British Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Julia (1977, Oscar).
Boris Spassky (Boris Vasilievich Spassky)
Born January 30, 1937
Russian chess grandmaster, world chess champion (1969-72). He lost his world title to Bobby Fischer in 1972 in what was known as the "Chess Match of the Century".
Tammy Grimes
Born January 30, 1934 d. 2016
American Tony-winning actress. Stage: The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960, Tony) and Private Lives (1970, Tony).
Stewart B. McKinney
Born January 30, 1931 d. 1987
American politician. He was the first U.S. congressman to die from AIDS.
Sandy Amorós (Edmundo Isasi Amoros)
Born January 30, 1930 d. 1992
Cuban-born baseball player. He made one of the greatest catches of World Series history. It was the sixth inning of the decisive Game 7 of the 1955 World Series. The Dodgers were trying to hold a 2-0 lead against the New York Yankees to win their first World Series. The first two batters in the inning reached base and Yogi Berra was up at the plate. Berra hit a shot towards the left field corner that looked to be a sure double when Amorós seemingly came out of nowhere to catch the ball near Yankee Stadium's 301 distance marker. He then threw to the shortstop who in turn threw to first base, making a double play. Hank Bauer grounded out to end the inning.
Gene Hackman
Born January 30, 1930
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The French Connection (1971, Oscar), Superman (1978), and Unforgiven (1992, Oscar).
Harold Prince
Born January 30, 1928 d. 2019
American Tony-winning director, producer. Stage: West Side Story (1957), Fiddler On the Roof (1964, Tony), Cabaret (1966, Tony), Evita (1978, Tony), and The Phantom of the Opera (1986).
Dick Martin
Born January 30, 1922 d. 2008
American Emmy-winning comedian. Martin teamed up with Dan Rowan to form the comedy team Rowan and Martin in 1952 and later hosted the TV show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968-73).
Martin lost the use of a lung due to tuberculosis as a teenager.
John Ireland
Born January 30, 1914 d. 1992
Canadian-born actor. Film: My Darling Clementine (1946) and All the King's Men (1949).
David Wayne (Wayne James McMeekan)
Born January 30, 1914 d. 1995
American actor. TV: Dallas (1978, Digger Barnes).
Boris III
Born January 30, 1894 d. 1943
King of Bulgaria (1918-43). In 1935 he established a virtual dictatorship.
Isaiah Thomas
Born January 30, 1749 d. 1831
American printer. He published the first U.S. novel written by an American (1789, The Power of Sympathy) and performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Deaths
(left to right) Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain
(left to right) Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain
John Bardeen
Died January 30, 1991 b. 1908
American Nobel-winning physicist. He is the co-inventor of the transistor and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon N. Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity (BCS theory).
First Lady of Radio Chatter
Pegeen Fitzgerald (Margaret Worrall)
Died January 30, 1989 b. 1910
American radio personality. "First Lady of Radio Chatter." She and her husband Ed hosted their radio program for 42 years. During the '40s, at $160,000 a year, they were the highest-paid couple in radio.
Orville piloting, Wilbur on ground.
Orville piloting, Wilbur on ground.
Orville Wright
Died January 30, 1948 b. 1871
American aviator. He and his brother Wilbur Wright are credited with building and flying the first manned heavier-than-air flying machine (1903). However, there is evidence that Gustave Whitehead made a powered, heavier-than-air-flight two years earlier.
Fred Silverman
Died January 30, 2020 b. 1937
American television executive. Silverman worked for all three major networks (CBS, ABC, NBC). While working for CBS, he was responsible for the "rural purge", in which successful shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw were canceled. They were replaced with shows considered more appealing to advertisers and baby boomers, such as All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, The Waltons, and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
He was also responsible for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and such spinoffs as Maude and The Jeffersons, and Rhoda.
Popularized the Jump Shot
Ken Sailors (Kenneth Lloyd Sailors)
Died January 30, 2016 b. 1921
American pro basketball player. College basketball player of the year (1943). At 5′10″ (1.78 m) he popularized the jump shot, which he developed while playing against his much taller brother.
Patty Andrews
Died January 30, 2013 b. 1918
American singer, with the Andrews Sisters.
John Barry (John Barry Prendergast)
Died January 30, 2011 b. 1933
English film Grammy-winning composer, five-time Oscar-winner. He composed scores for eleven James Bond movies (1963-87). Film: Born Free (1966) and Dances with Wolves (1990).
Sidney Sheldon
Died January 30, 2007 b. 1917
American Oscar-Tony-winning author, screenwriter. He is the seventh best-selling fiction writer of all time, having sold over 300 million books. Film: The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (1947, Oscar). TV: The Patty Duke Show (1963-66, creator) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70, creator).
Coretta Scott King
Died January 30, 2006 b. 1927
American civil rights activist, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pierre François Boulle
Died January 30, 1994 b. 1912
French author. Boulle was a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore. He was captured and spent two years in forced labor, which he used for the basis of his semi-fictional novel The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) which was made into a movie in 1957.
He also wrote Planet of the Apes (1963), which was made into the 1968 movie.
Taikichiro Mori
Died January 30, 1993 b. 1904
Japanese businessman, world's richest man at the time of his death. His wealth was estimated at $13 billion.
He 176
He 176
Ernst Heinkel
Died January 30, 1958 b. 1888
German aircraft designer/manufacturer. He designed the first rocket airplane powered solely by liquid fuel, the Heinkel He 176. As a member of the Nazi party, his company was a vital part of the Luftwaffe's growing strength in the years leading up to World War II.
Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand)
Died January 30, 1948 b. 1869
Indian political, spiritual, and civil rights leader. He gained world honor for his advocacy of nonviolence.
Mahatma is Sanskrit honorific title meaning "great-souled" or "venerable".
Frank Nelson Doubleday
Died January 30, 1934 b. 1862
American publisher.
Osceola
Died January 30, 1838 b. 1804
Seminole war-leader. Opposed to the removal of Seminoles from Florida, he was a principal leader of the Second Seminole War (1835-42). He died while imprisoned in South Carolina.
Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Griscom Ross)
Died January 30, 1836 b. 1752
American flag maker. She is credited with creating the first stars-and-stripes flag for the U.S.
Peter II
Died January 30, 1730 b. 1715
Czar of Russia (1727-30), grandson of Peter the Great. He died on of small pox on his intended wedding day.
Charles I
Died January 30, 1649 b. 1600
King of England (1625-49). He was convicted of treason by Parliament and beheaded.