Browsing: January 29

A Brief History On January 29, 2009, Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was successfully impeached by the state legislature and booted from office for the crime of soliciting appointment as the replacement as US senator for President-elect Obama.  Blagojevich was convicted and served eight years in prison for his crime.  About 18 governors have suffered sexual scandals or criminal charges resulting in being forced from office. Digging Deeper Spiro Agnew of Maryland, while serving as Vice President was charged with taking bribes and kick backs while Governor of Maryland and became the second US VP to resign in 1973. Virginia…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 29th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe, the Baltimore writer of such classics as “The Telltale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Goldbug,” published his famous poem, “The Raven,” certainly one of if not the most renowned poem in American literature, and ranks among the most famous of poems. On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz, a German engineer, became the…

A Brief History On January 29, 2002, US President George W. Bush coined a new phrase in his State of the Union Address to Congress, labeling Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil.” Digging Deeper Bush accused these states of being “regimes that sponsor terror,” a highly charged topic in the US after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.  Bush apparently liked the sound of his new designation and used the phrase often in his remaining years in office. The allusion in the phrase to “Axis” would harken back to the “Axis Powers” of World War…

A Brief History On January 29, 1907, Charles Curtis of Kansas was sworn in as a United States Senator, the first US Senator of Native American heritage.  Not only the first person of Native American heritage to serve in the Senate, he was the first person of any non-European heritage to so serve.  In fact, he is the highest ranking person of Native American ancestry ever to serve in the United States Government, reaching his political pinnacle as Vice President of the United States (1929-1933) under President Herbert Hoover!  (Were you aware that we have had a Native American Vice…

A Brief History On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz, a German engineer, became the first person to patent a successful gasoline powered automobile.  Not counting impractical inventions and steam powered cars, the Benz Patent Motorcar was the first of what we would recognize as a “real” automobile,” although of course it looked a lot different from the sleek machines we see on the roads today.  A funny looking 3 wheeled flimsy vehicle, the Benz creation was the first internal combustion engine car built to actually be sold on the commercial market.  Its 1 liter gasoline powered engine produced a pathetic…