This Week in History

December 28

Marty Keating was born.

Morgan Henley was born.

Maryann Markle was born.

1832 – John C. Calhoun became the first vice president in U.S. history to resign from office.

1945 – Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

1981 – Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va.

December 29

Chris Boyle was born.

James Hassett was born.

Max Power was born.

Janet Urciuoli was born.

Emily McCallion was born.

1851 – The first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) opened in Boston.

December 30 

Pat McVeigh was born. Boom!

Katie French was born.

Monica Reilly was born.

1940  – California’s first freeway opened.

1993 – Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement of mutual recognition to put an end to Jewish-Christian hostilities.

December 31

Kathy Louis was born.

1938 – The first breath test for drivers, “drunkometer,” was introduced in Indianapolis.

1946 – President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

January 1

Peter Duffy was born.

Vivian Carter was born.

Lily Corcoran was born.

George Johnson was born.

Shannon Reilly was born.

Lynn Duffy was born.

1863 – Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

1959 – Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries took over Cuba and toppled Fulgencio Batista’s regime.

January 2

Carolyn Butler was born.

Lisa Gillespie was born.

1935 – The Bruno R. Hauptmann trial began for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby.

1994 – Rudolph Giuliani is inaugurated as New York City’s mayor.

January 3

Kathleen Byrne was born.

Janet Racy was born.

1870 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.

1959 – Alaska became the 49th state in the United States.

1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.