What Happened in January?

The trial of 11 U.S. Communist Party leaders begins in New York City.

Mahatma Gandhi, is assassinated at age 78 following a prayer vigil in New Delhi. His killer was Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a Hindu fanatic Hindu nationalist fanatic and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization, who believed Gandhi had been too conciliatory to the Indian subcontinent's large Muslim minority.

The security firm Brinks, in Boston, Massachusetts, is surprised by five heavily disguised men as they were closing for the day. The men quickly bound the employees and within minutes, they’d stolen more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and other securities, making it the largest robbery in the U.S. at the time. More

Alger Hiss, a former State Department official, is convicted of perjury for lying about being a Soviet spy.

India declares itself a Sovereign, Democratic and Republic state with the adoption of the Constitution. Although India had become a free nation on August 15, 1947 (independence day), it officially became a republic on 26 January 1950, (Republic Day) when the Constitution was adopted. Republic Day and Independence Day are national holidays.

U.S. President Harry Truman publicly announces his decision to continue and intensify research and production of thermonuclear weapons.(Hydrogen Bomb), a weapon theorized at that time to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Five months earlier, the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb. Then, several weeks after that, British and U.S. intelligence came to the staggering conclusion that German-born Klaus Fuchs, a top-ranking scientist in the U.S. nuclear program, was a spy for the Soviet Union. More

The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City. More

The Nevada Test Site (NTS), 65 miles north of Las Vegas, detonates the first of several nuclear bombs, Shot Able, a 1-kiloton bomb, as part of Operation Ranger. Between 1951 and 1992, the U.S. government conducted a total of 928 nuclear tests here. Out of these tests 100 were atmospheric, and 828 were underground. More

President Harry S. Truman announced in his last State of the Union message to Congress that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb. More

Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States.

The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, forming American Motors Corporation (AMC).

Marian Anderson, made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York Cityas Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. She was the first African American to perform with the company.

The USSR ends its state of war with Germany.

The Republic of India's first election commences, making Jawaharlal Nehru the country's first Prime Minister.

The Eisenhower Doctrine is announced, providing military and economic aid to Middle Eastern countries threatened by communism.

The United States enters the space age by launching its first satellite, Explorer 1.

Cuban President Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba following the collapse of his government during the Cuban Revolution and flies to the Dominican Republic with his chief military aides. Leaving behind a junta which the rebels refused to recognize. His eldest son and over 50 other military leaders left on a plane to Jacksonville, Florida.

Alaska is admitted into the Union, becoming the 49th U.S. State. The United States had purchased the Alaska territory  from Russia and formally taken possession of it on October 18, 1867. The purchase, ended Russia’s presence in North America and ensured U.S. access to the Pacific northern rim.

The United States recognizes the new Cuban government after a general strike in early January forces the military Junta Government, left by Batista, to relinquish power to the 26th of July Movement. Fidel Castro arrives in Havana on January 8.  Expand +

The Aswan High Dam in Egypt construction starts. The rock-fill dam across the Nile River at Aswān, Egypt, was completed in 1970 and inaugurated in 1971. It now generates large amounts of electric power and allows for the control of the annual Nile flood providing major benefits to the Egyptian economy. More