On Jan. 30, 1649, England’s King Charles I was beheaded.
In 1781 the Articles of Confederation were adopted by Maryland, the last of the 13 original states.
In 1882 Franklin Roosevelt, the only president elected four times, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.
In 1894 the pneumatic hammer was patented by C.B. King of Detroit.
In 1930 actor Gene Hackman was born in San Bernardino, Calif.
In 1933 Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany. Also, the first episode of “The Lone Ranger” radio program was broadcast by Detroit radio station WXYZ.
In 1937 actress Vanessa Redgrave was born in London.
In 1948 Indian spiritual leader Mohandas Gandhi, 78, was shot to death by a Hindu fanatic in New Delhi. Also, aviation pioneer Orville Wright died in Dayton, Ohio; he was 76.
In 1962 two members of the famed Flying Wallendas high-wire act were killed when their seven-member pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.
In 1968 the Vietnam War’s bloody Tet offensive began as communist forces attacked provincial capitals in the South.
In 1972 British soldiers shot to death 13 Roman Catholic rights marchers in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on what became known as Bloody Sunday. A 14th casualty died five months later.
In 1981 an estimated 2 million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade to honor the 52 Americans who had been held hostage for 15 months in Iran.
In 2003 Richard Reid, a Briton and Al Qaeda follower who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Boston.
