January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Adam Crosswhite

January 27, 1847: more than 100 citizens of Marshall, Michigan, helped Adam Crosswhite and his family, who had escaped slavery, to flee to Canada rather than be captured by bounty hunters. Crosswhite and his family had fled a Kentucky plantation after he learned his four children were going to be sold. When a deputy sheriff arrived, he wound up arresting the bounty hunters, rather than the Crosswhite family, which made it safely to Canada. Later, the family returned to Marshall. Crosswhite’s escape played a part in the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. (see Feb 16)

see Montgomery Bus Boycott for expanded story

January 27, 1956: ML King received a threatening phone call. (next BH, see Feb 2)

Medgar W. Evers assassination

January 27, 1964: The State prosecution accepted a full slate of white men to sit as a jury in the case of Byron De La Beckwith, accused of the rifle slaying of Medgar W. Evers on June 12, 1963.  (BH, see Jan 31; ME, see Feb 5)

see George Whitmore, Jr for expanded story

January 27, 1965: The New York Times quotes an unnamed assistant to NY County DA Frank Hogan as saying, “I am positive that the police prepared the confession for George Whitmore, Jr., just as his lawyer charged a few days ago. I am also sure that the police were the ones who gave Whitmore all the details of the killings that he recited to our office.”

Robert Lacey, Black and shot

January 27, 1967:Jefferson County, Alabama sheriff deputies went to the home of Robert Lacey, a black father of six, because Mr. Lacey had failed to take the family dog to the veterinarian after it bit a neighborhood child. The health department had instructed the family to take the dog in for a rabies test, but the family did not own a car and had no means of transporting the animal.

The deputies knocked at the door as Mr. Lacey was getting out of the shower, and when he answered the door they told him to get dressed and go with them. Mr. Lacey asked why and told the deputies to just take the dog. The deputies said they weren’t interested in the dog and told him to get dressed. As Mr. Lacey was doing so, a gun he kept in his dresser fell to the floor. In response, the deputies pushed Mr. Lacey against the wall and attempted to handcuff him. Mr. Lacey offered to walk to the car with them, but one of the deputies said, “Boy, you gonna leave here with handcuffs on, dead or alive.”

Mr. Lacey was a large man; as the deputies attempted to wrestle him down, one of them fell to the ground and the other then shot Mr. Lacey in the leg. The deputies later claimed Mr. Lacey lunged at them before the second shot, but Mr. Lacey’s family insisted Mr. Lacey fell to the ground before the deputy shot him again, “between the eyes.” Neighbors who ran to the house after the shooting were instructed by police to move the body before the coroner arrived.

Lacey’s death marked the second black man killed by Jefferson County law enforcement within nine days, and would be one of ten total law enforcement killings of black men in the Birmingham, Alabama, area within a 14 month period spanning from 1966 to 1967. (see Feb 6)

Eldon Avenue Axle Plant Revolutionary Union Movement

January 27, 1969: a group of Detroit African-American auto workers known as the Eldon Avenue Axle Plant Revolutionary Union Movement led a wildcat strike against racism and bad working conditions. They were critical of both automakers and the UAW, condemning the seniority system and grievance procedures as racist.  (LH, see Dec 31; BH, see Mar 10)

Irene Morgan

On July 16, 1944 Irene Morgan, 27, recovering from a miscarriage, and traveling by bus from Virginia to Baltimore for a doctor’s appointment, refused to relinquish her seat [as well as another black woman] to a white couple.

The driver, angered by Morgan’s refusal, drove the bus to the Middlesex County town of Saluda and stopped outside the jail. A sheriff’s deputy came aboard and told Morgan that he had a warrant for her arrest. She continued to refuse and had to be physically subdued. She was jailed for resisting arrest and violating Virginia’s segregation law.

On June 3, 1946, in Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, the U.S Supreme Court (6 – 1 decision) found in favor of Irene Morgan, calling segregated seating on interstate buses an “impermissible burden on interstate commerce.”

On January 27, 2001: President Bill Clinton presented the Presidential Citizens Medal to Irene Morgan. (2007 NYT obit) (see Feb 21)

Emmett Till

January 27, 2017: in a Vanity Fair magazine article, Duke University professor Timothy B. Tyson reported that Carolyn Bryant Donham (the woman who accused Till of inappropriate behavior) told him that the story she and others told about Emmett Till were false. Tyson wrote that Donham said of her long-ago allegations—that Emmett grabbed her and was menacing and sexually crude toward her–“that part is not true.” (next BH, see Feb 11; see ET for expanded chronology)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

Incandescent lamp

January 27, 1880:  Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.  (see March 23, 1883)

Wireway

January 27, 1948: Wire Recording Corporation of America announced the first magnetic tape recorder. The ‘Wireway’ machine with a built-in oscillator sold for $149.50. (see June 21)

iPad

January 27, 2010:  Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco. (Video via YouTube)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear and Chemical Weapons/News

Frenchman Flat

January 27, 1951:  the era of US atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat. (video via YouTube) (see Mar 6)

Space treaty

January 27, 1967:  President Johnson and counterparts in London and Moscow signed the “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space.” Signatories agree, among other points, that outer space will remain demilitarized (including nuclear weapons), no territorial claims on earth orbit or any planetary bodies will be made and that astronauts or cosmonauts who find themselves landing off course will be returned to their home countries. (see Feb 14)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

January 27 Music et al

John Coltrane

January 27, 1960: John Coltrane released “Giant Steps” album, considered a classic jazz album and one that saxophonists still measure themselves by today. The Penguin Guide.

Lindsay Planer wrote in AllMusic, “History will undoubtedly enshrine this disc as a watershed the likes of which may never truly be appreciated. “

Peppermint Twist

January 27 – Feb 16 – “Peppermint Twist” by Joey Dee & the Starlighters #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Instant Karma

January 27, 1970: John Lennon wrote and recorded “Instant Karma” In his words, “I wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch and we’re putting it out for dinner.” It became the third Lennon single to appear before the official breakup of the Beatles. The only exaggeration in John’s description was the part about dinner: wasn’t actually released to the public until Feb 6. (see Instant Karma for more) (next Beatles, see Mar 8)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Policy failing

January 27, 1965: President Johnson received a memorandum stating that the current Vietnam policy was clearly not working. The Viet Cong were on the move and on the rise and supplied by North Vietnam. The South Vietnam government was unstable as well. (see Feb 7)

Anti-Vietnam War ads

January 27, 1968: the subways and elevated trains in Chicago began allowing anti-Vietnam War ads on this day. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) had refused to carry the ads for two years. The Illinois ACLU sued on behalf of the Chicago Women for Peace and the North Shore Women for Peace, chapters of the Women Strike for Peace organizations. The federal judge dismissed the suit when the CTA capitulated and agreed to carry the ads. The ad, addressed to President Lyndon Johnson, read: “War is Not Peace. Tyranny is Not Freedom. Hate is Not Love. End the War in Vietnam.” (see Jan 29)

Paris Peace Accords

January 27, 1973: representatives of the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords, ending the Vietnam War. The United States’s chief negotiator, Dr. Henry Kissinger, was awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in concluding the treaty and ending hostilities. (see Jan 28)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

January 27, 1967: a fire during routine testing of the Apollo spacecraft (scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967) killed three astronauts — Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee — in their capsule.

Immediately after the fire, NASA convened the Apollo 204 Accident Review Board to determine the cause of the fire. Although the ignition source was never conclusively identified, the astronauts’ deaths were attributed to a wide range of lethal design and construction flaws in the early Apollo Command Module. The manned phase of the project was delayed for 20 months while these problems were corrected. (Washington Post 50th anniversary article) (see Apr 20)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Watergate Scandal

January 27, 1975: in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the attendant abuses of power by the Nixon administration, and also recent revelations of illegal CIA spying on Americans [in The New York Times on December 22, 1974], the Senate created the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to the Intelligence Agencies. Known as the Church Committee after its chair, Senator Frank Church (D–Idaho), the committee held public hearings about abuses by the intelligence agencies, and eventually published 14 reports on violations of the rights of American citizens by the intelligence agencies. The vote to create the committee was 82–4, indicating the depth of disgust over alleged abuses by the FBI and the CIA in the Senate.

The Church Committee reports are still an extremely valuable resource on the history of violations of American rights in the twentieth century. The Church Committee was paralleled by the Pike Committee, created by the House of Representatives on February 19, 1975. Following the revelations about the CIA by the Times, President Gerald Ford tried to head off Congressional investigations by creating the Rockefeller Commission to investigate the CIA on January 4, 1975, but that effort failed when Congress created the two committees.

The Church Committee hearings created sensation after sensation, with revelations of CIA assassination plots, and more. The Church Committee reports are still an invaluable source of information about the abuses of the CIA, the FBI, and other federal agencies. The reports also document the involvement of presidents, both Republican and Democratic, in approving many if not most of the abuses by the intelligence agencies. (see Watergate for its expanded story)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

RC Church/women priests

January 27, 1977: the Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on female priests. (see Mar 26)

 LGBTQ+ and Crime and Punishment

January 27, 2024: President Donald Trump announced he had signed four executive orders that will reshape the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the US armed forces; gutting the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and reinstating with back pay service members who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from Covid-19. [CNN article] (next C & P, see ; next LGBTQ+, see Feb 14)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

January 27, 1978: the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the Illinois Appellate Court and the Circuit Court of Cook County’s grant of Injunctive Relief in favor of the Village of Skokie and against the Nazi group headed by Frank Collin. The Nazis were free to March in Skokie pending resolution of the federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of the Nazis. (see Feb 23)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

January 27, 1994: Michigan Judge Jessica R. Cooper of Oakland County Circuit Court dismissed charges against Jack Kevorkian in two deaths, becoming the fifth lower court judge in Michigan to rule that assisted suicide was a constitutional right. (see JK for expanded chronology)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Paula Jones

January 27, 1998: Paula Jones’ attorney, John Whitehead, answered Starr’s subpoena with several documents, possibly including Clinton’s deposition in the Jones suit. Clinton personal secretary, Betty Currie testified before the grand jury. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton says in a broadcast interview that a “vast right-wing conspiracy” was behind the charges against her husband. A Portland, Ore., man, Andy Bleiler, alleged he had a five-year affair with Lewinsky, and his lawyer promises to turn over documents and items to Starr’s investigators. Clinton delivers his State of the Union address, making no mention of the scandal.

Senate votes

January 27, 1999: in twin 56-44 votes, the Senate refused to dismiss the charges against President Clinton and agreed to seek depositions from Monica Lewinsky, Vernon Jordan and Sidney Blumenthal. (see Clinton for expanded story)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Matthew Nestor convicted

January 27, 2011: a federal jury convicted Matthew Nestor, a former Pennsylvania police officer, of the most serious charge against him in what prosecutors said was a cover-up of the beating death of a Luis Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant. The jury delivered a less severe verdict against a second officer and acquitted a third.

The former officers, Matthew Nestor, Jason Hayes and William Moyer, were accused of helping a group of white teenage football players cover up their parts in the death of Luis Ramírez, an illegal Mexican immigrant who was fatally beaten in July 2008 in Shenandoah, Pa.

Nestor, the former Shenandoah police chief, was found guilty of falsifying records, a charge that could bring up to 20 years in prison, but he was acquitted of conspiracy. Moyer, a former Shenandoah lieutenant, was convicted of lying to the F.B.I., but acquitted of all other counts, including obstruction of justice, and he faces up to five years in prison. Hayes, a former patrolman, was acquitted of all charges. (see Ramirez for expanded chronology)

Refugees denied entry

January 27, 2017: President Trump suspended entry of all refugees to the US for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Department of Homeland Security said that the order also barred green card holders from those countries from re-entering the United States. (BBC piece) (see Jan 28)

More difficult

January 27, 2020:  CNN reported that the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote  cleared the way for the Trump administration to make it more difficult for low-income immigrants seeking to come to or trying to remain legally in the United States.

The so-called public charge rule, unveiled in August, impacted people who rely on public assistance, including most forms of Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers.

Advocates and several states immediately opposed the rule, arguing that the changes would penalize immigrants who rely on temporary assistance from the government and impose costs on the states. (next IH, see Jan 31)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 27, 2017: U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks blocked Texas from requiring that fetal remains to be buried or cremated, saying the rule placed burdens on access to abortion that “substantially outweigh the benefits.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to appeal, setting up another high-stakes battle over Texas’ attempts to regulate abortion providers — seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned two Texas regulations that would have left nine abortion clinics operating in the state.

After hearing two days of testimony early this month, Sparks issued a preliminary injunction that indefinitely prohibited Texas from enforcing the rule, which would have required health facilities to ensure that fetal tissue was buried or cremated — with the ashes buried or appropriately scattered — whether from an abortion or miscarriage.

The rule did not apply to miscarriages at home or to early-term, drug-induced abortions that typically take place at home.

Sparks said the new standards were vague, inviting interpretations that would allow state health officials “to exercise arbitrary, and potentially discriminatory, enforcement on an issue connected to abortion and therefore sensitive and hotly contested.” (see Feb 18)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment

January 27, 2020: on the second day of President Trump’s lawyers presenting arguments against his impeachment, they told senators that no evidence existed tying the president’s decision to withhold security aid from Ukraine to his insistence on the investigations. They say the investigations were requested out of a concern for corruption in Ukraine.

Yet a new account by the President’s former national security adviser John R. Bolton weakened that defense when he wrote for a forthcoming book that Trump had conditioned military aid for Ukraine on that country’s willingness to furnish information on his political rivals. [NYT article] (next TI, see Jan 28 or see Trump for expanded chronology)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 27, 2021: President Biden signed a series of executive orders that aim to “confront the existential threat of climate change” across the federal government while emphasizing job creation and tackling racial inequity.

“In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can’t wait any longer,” said Mr. Biden, speaking at the White House. “We see it with our own eyes. We feel it. We know it in our bones. And it’s time to act.”

The executive orders also set broad new foreign policy goals, including specifying that climate change, for the first time, will be a core part of all foreign policy and national security decisions.

Biden’s international climate envoy, John Kerry, said that the United States would host an international climate change summit on Earth Day, April 22. “The convening of this summit is essential to ensuring that 2021 is going to be the year that really makes up for the lost time of the last four years,” said Mr. Kerry. [NYT article] (next EI, see Feb 8)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

January 27, 2021: a “National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin” issued by the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] warned that the deadly rampage of the Capitol on January 6 may not have been an isolated episode,that the United States faced a growing threat from “violent domestic extremists” emboldened by the attack.

The department’s terrorism alert did not name specific groups that might be behind any future attacks, but it made clear that their motivation would include anger over “the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives,” a clear reference to the accusations made by President Donald J. Trump and echoed by right-wing groups that the 2020 election was stolen.

“D.H.S. is concerned these same drivers to violence will remain through early 2021,” the department said.  [NYT article] (next T, see Mar 16)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

January 27, 2021:  a study published in the British Medical Association journal’s BMJ concluded that increasing access to marijuana dispensaries was associated “…with reduced opioid related death rates, particularly deaths associated with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl,”

It was a finding that held “…for both medical and recreational dispensaries” the study said.

Researchers looked at opioid mortality and cannabis dispensary prevalence in 23 U.S.states from 2014 to 2018 and found that, overall, counties where the number of legal marijuana shops increased from one to two experienced a 17 percent reduction in opioid-related fatalities.

Increasing the dispensary count from two to three was linked to an additional 8.5 percent decrease in opioid deaths.

Further, the study found that this trend “appeared particularly strong for deaths associated with synthetic opioids other than methadone, with an estimated 21 percent reduction in mortality rates associated with an increase from one to two dispensaries.”  [Marijuana Moment article] (next Cannabis, see  Feb 22 or, see CCC for expanded chronology)

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

January 27, 2024: the Trump administration instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs had already been obtained and were sitting in local clinics.

The directive was part of a broader freeze on foreign aid initiated the week before. It included the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the global health program started by George W. Bush that was credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide.

The administration had already moved to stop PEPFAR funding from moving to clinics, hospitals and other organizations in low-income countries. [NYT article] (next AIDS, see )

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

January 27, 2025:  workers at a Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia voted to become the first unionized store in Amazon’s grocery chain, opening a new front in the e-commerce giant’s efforts to fend off labor organizing in multiple segments of its business.

Employees at the sprawling Whole Foods store, in the city’s Spring Garden neighborhood, voted 130 to 100 in favor of organizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, the National Labor Relations Board said. [NYT article] (next LH, see )

January 27 Peace Love Art Activism

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Amalgamated Meat Cutters

January 26, 1897: the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America was chartered by the American Federation of Labor to organize “every wage earner from the man who takes the bullock at the house until it goes into the hands of the consumer.”  (see Sept 10)

Student Rights

January 26, 2014: members of the Northwestern University football team announced they were seeking union recognition. A majority signed cards, later delivered to the National Labor Relations Board office in Chicago, asking for representation by the College Athletes Players Association.  (Labor, see Feb 14; Student Rights, see March 26)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

see Dyer Anti-Lynching bill for more

January 26, 1922: after a prolonged fight, the House passed the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill by a vote of 230 to 119. (NYT article) (see DAL for expanded chronology)

see Montgomery Bus Boycott for more

January 26, 1956: ML King left Dexter in his car with his friend Robert Williams and church secretary Lilie Thomas. After picking up three others at an MIA car pool station, King was stopped by two motorcycle policemen for traveling 30 mph in a 25 mph zone. He was arrested, fingerprinted, photographed, and jailed. Ralph Abernathy arrived to bail him out; as a crowd gathered at the jail, prison officials escorted King out of the jail and drove him back to town. According to King, on this day and the previous two more than one hundred traffic citations were issued to car pool drivers. Later that evening, a group of King’s friends decided to organize protection for him. Seven Montgomery Improvement Association mass meetings were held to accommodate black residents interested in hearing the story of King’s arrest. (next BH see Feb 2)

see George Whitmore, Jr for expanded story

January 26, 1965: Richard “Ricky” Robles, a white 22-year-old narcotics addict, charged with the Wylie-Hoffert crime. While not dismissing the indictment against George Whitmore, Jr., New York County DA Frank S. Hogan presented a 1,400-word recommendation that Whitmore be released on his own recognizance. The document seemed to absolve Whitmore of the crime, as did a statement Hogan released to the press. Says the latter, “In spite of every safeguard, occasional honest mistakes are made. To eliminate even this minute fraction of error is the ceaseless effort of those entrusted with the administration of justice.” Hogan’s recommendation that Whitmore be released was accepted, although it was a meaningless gesture, given that Whitmore was being held pending sentencing for the Borrero crime and pending trial for the Edmonds murder. (Robles, see February 15, 1965; next BH, see Feb 1)

Baconsfield Park

January 26, 1970: in 1911, United States Senator Augustus O. Bacon executed his will, devising to the City of Macon, Georgia, “a park and pleasure ground” for whites only. He explained that “in limiting the use and enjoyment of this property perpetually to white people, I am not influenced by any unkindness of feeling . . . I am, however, without hesitation in the opinion that in their social relations the two races . . . should be forever separate.”

Baconsfield Park opened in 1920 as a large and lush recreation space. As trustee of the park, the City of Macon honored Senator Bacon’s wishes and for decades operated it as a “whites only” facility. That changed in 1963 when the city determined that, as a public entity, it could no longer constitutionally enforce segregation. Disgruntled, Baconsfield’s Board of Managers sued to remove the City of Macon as trustee and preserve the park as one for white residents only.

In May 1963, black citizens intervened, filing a lawsuit challenging Baconsfield’s racial restriction as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, in February 1964, the City of Macon resigned as trustee; several months later the court appointed three private individuals as new trustees, and the racial segregation policy continued.

Black residents appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On January 17, 1966, the Court held in Evans v. Newton that Baconsfield could no longer be operated on a racially discriminatory basis: “the public character of this park requires that it be treated as a public institution subject to the command of the Fourteenth Amendment, regardless of who now has title under state law.”

Rather than integrate, however, the Georgia Supreme Court responded by terminating the Baconsfield trust and closing the park to the public altogether.

Black residents of Macon again appealed to the United States Supreme Court, contending the state court’s action violated the Fourteenth Amendment, but on January 26, 1970, in Evans v Abney, the Court upheld the Georgia Supreme Court’s order, writing: “When a city park is destroyed because the Constitution requires it to be integrated, there is reason for everyone to be disheartened.”

Baconsfield Park remained closed and is now a strip mall; Georgia’s Bacon County is named for Senator Bacon. (the above is from Equal Justice Initiative) (see Feb 21)

Medgar Evers

January 26, 1994: a jury of eight blacks and four whites was chosen  in the third trial of Byron De La Beckwith. (BH & Evers, see February 1)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

January 26, 1946: McCollum v. Board of Education—a  three-judge Circuit Court refused to ban non-sectarian classes in religious education from the public schools of Champaign. (see Jan 22, 1947)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

see January 26 Music et al for more

Wes Montgomery

January 26 – 27, 1960: Wes Montgomery recorded “The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery” at Reeves Sound Studios, New York City.

[Airegin] Critic Chris May of All About Jazz wrote “The Incredible Jazz Guitar burst onto the US scene in 1960 like a benign hurricane, and it still sounds like a gale almost 50 years later....”

Fear of Rock

January 26, 1962:  Catholic Church Bishop Joseph A. Burke in Buffalo, NY banned the The Twist, from being heard or danced to at any area Catholic school or event. The announcement on this day was one of many in the early years of rock and roll in which authority figures were convinced that the music would undermine public morals. (see May 17, 1965)

Walk Right In

January 26 – February 8, 1963: “Walk Right In” by The Rooftop Singers #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a country blues song written by Gus Cannon and originally recorded by Cannon’s Jug Stompers in 1929.

Trivia: the song has been covered by others, among whom was a French singer: Claude François. It was not a big hit for him. Another song of his (Comme d’habitude) became a hit in 1967. Paul Anka heard the song while in Paris and got the rights to the song, re-wrote the lyrics, and the song became, My Way and made famous by Frank Sinatra in 1969.

Rage Against the Machine

January 26, 2000: Rage Against the Machine played in front of Wall Street, prompting an early closing of trading due to the crowds.

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

January 26, 1962: the United States launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon — but the probe ended up missing its target by more than 22,000 miles. (see Feb 2)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

January 26, 1971: in United States v. Sinclair  US District Judge Damon Keith ruled that Nixon’s Attorney General John N. Mitchell had to disclose the transcripts of illegal wiretaps that Mitchell had authorized without first obtaining a search warrant. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld Keith’s decision.  (see June 19, 1972)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Peace proposal rejected

January 26, 1972: Radio Hanoi announced North Vietnam’s rejection of the latest U.S. peace proposal. Revealing more details of the secret Paris peace talks, Henry Kissinger responded publicly, condemning the North Vietnamese announcement and criticizing Hanoi’s nine-point counter-proposal, which had been submitted during the secret talks.

Kissinger took exception with the communist insistence on the end of all U.S. support for the South Vietnamese government. The communists maintained that “withdrawal” meant not only withdrawal of U.S. troops, but also the removal of all U.S. equipment, aid, and arms in the possession of the South Vietnamese army. Kissinger asserted that the abrupt removal of all U.S. aid would guarantee the collapse of the Saigon regime. (see Feb 12)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

January 26, 1980: at the request of President Jimmy Carter, the U.S. Olympic Committee voted to ask the International Olympic Committee to cancel or move the upcoming Moscow Olympics. The action was in response to the Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan the previous month. (see Mar 31)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear news

January 26, 1992: Boris Yeltsin announced that Russia would stop targeting cities of the US and her allies with nuclear weapons. In return George H. W. Bush announced that the US and her allies would stop targeting Russia and the remaining communist states. (see January 3, 1993)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Clinton denial

January 26, 1998: President Clinton forcefully repeated his denial, saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Lewinsky lawyer Ginsburg offered Starr a summary of what Lewinsky is prepared to say to the grand jury in exchange for a grant of immunity from the prosecution.

A year later…

January 26, 1999: Senators hear arguments about seeking depositions from three witnesses — Monica Lewinsky, Vernon Jordan and Sidney Blumenthal — and then deliberate in secret. (see Clinton for expanded story)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

January 26, 2005: Condoleezza Rice became the second woman and the first African American woman to be sworn in as Secretary of State.  (see July 12)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Westboro Baptist Church

January 26, 2008: Westboro Baptist Church members traveled to Jacksonville, North Carolina, home of Camp Lejeune, to protest the United States Marine Corps in the wake of the murder of Maria Lauterbach. Five women protested, stomping on the American flag and shouting slogans such as “1,2,3,4, God Hates the Marine Corps”. (see May 14)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 26, 2012: The Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition delivered more than 105,000 signatures to the Secretary of State to place a citizen’s initiative on the November 2012 ballot. The measure would allow same-sex couples to receive a marriage license while also protecting religious freedom. Maine was the first state to proactively seek to win the freedom to marry at the ballot. (see Feb 2)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

President Nieto cancels

January 26, 2017: Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, cancelled his scheduled meeting with President Donald J. Trump in Washington the following week, rejecting the visit after Trump ordered a border wall between the two nations. (IH, see Jan 27;TW, see Feb 6)

January 26, 2021: on January 20, Acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske had issued a memo to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizen and Immigration Services. It declared a review of policies and practices throughout the department and its components — including a 100-day pause on the removal of certain noncitizens.Texas

Moratorium granted

On January 22, arguing that the moratorium would be harmful, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security’s 100-day deportation ban.

Judge Drew Tipton agreed with Paxton and granted the request on January 26.  Tipton said that there was a chance the state would “suffer imminent and irreparable harm” if a temporary restraining order wasn’t granted. He also said the order won’t harm the defendants or the public. Tipton said the nationwide injunction is effective for 14 days, according to court documents. (next IH, see Feb 2)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

January 26, 2018: bowing to the demands of the United States Olympic Committee, U.S.A. Gymnastics confirmed  that all the remaining members of its board of directors would resign — the latest fallout from a widespread sexual abuse scandal involving the federation’s longtime national team doctor, Lawrence G. Nassar.

The announcement came one day after the head of the Olympic committee threatened in an email to decertify U.S.A. Gymnastics — the sport’s national governing body — if its entire board of more than 20 people did not resign January 31. Several board members, including the chairman, Paul Parilla, had already resigned by the time the email was sent. [Fox5 News article] (SAC & Nassar, see Feb 5)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

January 26, 2021: President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Justice to end its reliance on private prisons and not to renew contracts with them. “Mass incarceration imposes significant costs on our society and communities, while private prisons profiteer off of federal prisoners in less safe conditions for prisoners and correctional officers alike,” the White House said. “President Biden is committed to reducing mass incarceration while making our communities safer. That starts with ending DOJ’s reliance on private prisons.” (next C & R, see Feb 22)

January 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

January 26, 2021:  President Joe Biden signed an executive order to help reverse the Trump administration’s housing policy, which involved repealing both the Obama and Clinton administrations’ efforts to enforce the Fair Housing Act.

The new order directed his incoming secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Marcia Fudge, to examine the effects of President Donald Trump’s signature housing policy, “Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.”

“The Federal Government must recognize and acknowledge its role in systematically declining to invest in communities of color and preventing residents of those communities from accessing the same services and resources as their white counterparts,” Biden’s executive order reads. “The effects of these policy decisions continue to be felt today, as racial inequality still permeates land-use patterns in most U.S. cities and virtually all aspects of housing markets.” [Commercial Observer article] (next FH, see Feb 11)

Native Americans

January 26, 2024: the American Museum of Natural History announced the closing of two major halls exhibiting Native American objects in response to new federal regulations that require museums to obtain consent from tribes before displaying or performing research on cultural items.

“The halls we are closing are artifacts of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples,” Sean Decatur, the museum’s president, wrote in a letter to the museum’s staff. “Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others.”  [NYT article] (next NA, see June 13)

DEATH PENALTY

January 26, 2024: a day after Alabama became the first state to execute a prisoner with nitrogen gas, officials vowed to continue using the method in executions despite witnesses’ accounts that Kenneth Smith writhed on the gurney for at least two minutes.

Two very different accounts of the execution emerged from the state’s death chamber.

The state’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, called it a “textbook” execution that had made nitrogen hypoxia, as the process is known, a “proven” method that other states could emulate.

Meanwhile, Smith’s spiritual adviser and reporters who also witnessed the execution described an intense reaction in which Smith violently shook and writhed as the gas was administered, began breathing heavily and, finally, stopped moving.

The descriptions were at odds with what the state had promised in court papers: that the untested method of using nitrogen gas through a face mask would “rapidly lower the oxygen level in the mask, ensuring unconsciousness in seconds.”  [NYT article] (next DP, see Sept 24)