January 3 Birthdays

January 3 in History

1521

Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

1777

George Washington defeated Cornwallis's forces at the Battle of Princeton.

1833

Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands.

1870

Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.

1920

The New York Yankees acquired Babe Ruth and so began the "curse of the Bambino" that haunted the Boston Red Sox until 2004.

1947

Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time.

1958

Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole overland.

1959

Alaska became the 49th state in the United States.

1962

Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.

1967

Jack Ruby, the man who shot John Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, died.

1987

Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1990

Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces.