Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

January 29

2002
Axis of Evil: Pres. George W. Bush first uses the term during a State of the Union address to describe North Korea, Iran, and Iraq.

1992
Gays in the military: Pres. Clinton partially lifts the ban on gays in the military, stating he will eventually lift the ban altogether.

1987
The Communist Party Central Committee endorses Gorbachev's proposals of economic and social reform, including allowing more than one candidate to run for a party office.

1979
Patty Hearst is given clemency by Pres. Carter after serving 22 months of a seven-year prison sentence for bank robbery. She was released three days later.

1979
I Don't Like Mondays: 17-year-old Brenda Spence shoots 11 people, claiming she didn't like Mondays. The Boomtown Rats hit I Don't Like Mondays (1980) was based on this event.

1936
Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson become the first inductees. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1929
First guide dog school in the U.S.: Morris Frank, himself blind, founds The Seeing Eye in Nashville, Tennessee.

1900
The American League is formed: It consisted of eight baseball teams.

1861
Kansas becomes the 34th state. Kansas is Sioux for "south wind people."

1845
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is first published, in the New York Evening Mirror, instantly making him famous.

1956
La Toya Jackson, American singer.

1954
Oprah Winfrey, American talk show hostess. She won the title of Miss Black Tennessee.

1951
Ann Jillian, American singer, dancer, actress. TV: It's A Living (Cassie) and The Ann Jillian Story (1988, which chronicled her real-life battle with breast cancer).

1945
Tom Selleck, American actor. TV: Magnum P.I. (Thomas Magnum). He appeared twice on The Dating Game, but was never chosen.

1943
Katherine Ross, American actress. Film: The Graduate (1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). TV: The Colbys (Francesca).

1923     d. 1981
Paddy Chayefsky (Sidney Chayefsky), American Oscar-winning screenwriter. Film: Paint Your Wagon (1969), Network (1976, Oscar), and Altered States (1979).

1918
John Forsythe (John Freund), American actor. TV: Charlie's Angels (voice of Charlie) and Dynasty (Blake Carrington).

1913     d. 1999
Victor Mature, American actor, starring in many Biblical epics. He was billed as "A beautiful hunk of man." Film: One Million B.C. (1940, Tumak the caveman),  Samson and Delilah (1949, Samson) and After the Fox. Quote: "Actually, I am a golfer. That is my real occupation. I never was an actor; ask anybody, particularly the critics." (1966).

1901     d. 1965
Allen Balcom Du Mont, American inventor. He developed the first commercially practical cathode ray tube, marketed the first home TV receiver (1939), and established the Du Mont TV network (1946).

1843     d. 1901
William McKinley, 25th U.S. President (1897-1901). He was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz. His portrait graces the U.S. $500 bill.

1737     d. 1809
Thomas Paine, American patriot, wrote Common Sense (1776) and The Age of Reason (1795).

2002     b. 1914
Harold Russell, Canadian-born American actor. He was the first visibly handicapped person to appear in a major motion picture; he lost both hands in World War II. He won an Oscar for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) which he sold in 1992, making him the first person to openly sell their own Oscar.  He needed the money for his wife's medical expenses.

1980     b. 1893
Jimmy Durante, American comedian. His trademark lines include "Ink-a-Dink-a-Doo" and "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."

1977     b. 1954
Freddie Prinze, American actor. TV: Chico and the Man (Chico).

1963     b. 1874
Robert Frost, American Pulitzer-winning poet. Writings: A Boy's Will and North of Boston.

1956     b. 1880
H.L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken), American newspaperman, critic for the Baltimore Sun.

1906     b. 1818
Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906).

1820     b. 1738
George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1760-1820) during the American Revolution. He became insane in 1811 leaving the Prince of Wales (George IV) to run the government.

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