OnThisDay: January 1st
4713BC - Julian Year 1 begins, at Greenwich mean noon
0404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome conducted
1700 - Protestant West-Europe (except England) began using Gregorian calendar
1802 - Thomas Jefferson, in a letter written to the Danbury Baptist Association, coined the metaphor, "a wall of separation between Church and State."
1808 - Congress prohibited importation of slaves
1818 - Official reopening of the White House (after Civil War)
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation (ending slavery) issued by Lincoln
1886 - First "Tournament of Roses" held in Pasadena, CA
1908 - First time the ball signifying a new year was dropped at Times Square (NYC)
1928 - First US air-conditioned office building opened in San Antonio, TX
1934 - International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established
1946 - ENIAC, US first computer finished by Mauchly & Eckert
1959 - Fidel Castro lead Cuba to victory as Fulgencio Batista fled to Dominican Republic
1960 - US census reported population at 179,245,000 people
1966 - All US cigarette packs must carry "Caution Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"
1975 - Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell & Mardian convicted of Watergate crime
1985 - Cable music channel VH-1 made its broadcasting debut
1991 - Iraq rejected peace proposal from Egyptian President, Hosi Mubarak
1998 - US Census Bureau estimated population at 268,921,733 people