Today’s History Spotlight
The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia. Designed by George Bergstrom, it is the headquarters for the US Department of Defense, and is located across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The Pentagon is also the world’s largest office building.
It was struck by American Airlines Flight 77 on September 11, 2001, exactly 60 years following the start of the building’s construction, killing 189 people. The Pentagon is a National Historic Landmark and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
What Happened On This Day – January 15
- 2001 Wikipedia goes online. The online encyclopedia has since become the largest reference work on the internet.
- 1992 Croatia and Slovenia are internationally recognized as independent nations. The Yugoslav federation effectively collapsed as a result.
- 1973 Nixon orders ceasefire in Vietnam. The fighting continued anyway until the capture of Saigon by the Vietnam People’s Army on April 30, 1975.
- 1892 The rules of Basketball are published. Canadian James Naismith invented the sport for his gym class at YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- 1759 The British Museum opens. Its collection comprises 8 million items and it is one of the most comprehensive collections in the world.
Births On This Day – January 15
- 1965 James Nesbitt – Irish actor
- 1941 Captain Beefheart – American singer-songwriter
- 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr. – American minster, activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1918 Gamal Abdel Nasser – Egyptian army officer, politician, 2nd President of Egypt
- 1622 Molière – French playwright, actor
Deaths On This Day – January 15
- 1994 Harry Nilsson – American singer-songwriter, musician
- 1988 Seán MacBride – Irish politician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1950 Henry H. Arnold – American general
- 1947 Elizabeth Short – American waitress, murder victim
- 1919 Rosa Luxemburg – Russian economist, philosopher
The sections “What Happened On This Day,” “Births On This Day,” and “Deaths On This Day” originally appeared at TimeandDate.com and is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
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