History of the Day for:
January 14
- 1741: Benedict Arnold, the American officer who betrayed his country to the British in the American Revolution in 1779, was born.
- 1742: English astronomer Edmond Halley, who observed the comet that now bears his name, died at age 85.
- 1784: the United States ratified the peace treaty of Paris with England that formally ended the Revolutionary War.
- 1794: Dr. Jessee Bennet of Edom, Va., performed the first successful Cesarean section operation on his wife.
- 1858: French Emperor Napoleon III escaped an attempt on his life by Felice Orsini, an Italian patriot who was later executed.
- 1878: U.S. Supreme Court ruled race separation on trains unconstitutional.
- 1898: Lewis Carroll, author of "Alice in Wonderland," died.
- 1900: The Puccini opera "Tosca" received a mixed reception at its world premiere in Rome.
- 1932: Horse racing legend Eddie Arcaro won his first race.
- 1951: The Pro Bowl game, dormant since 1942, was revived under a new format matching the all-stars of each conference.
- 1952: NBC's "Today" show premiered.
- 1954: N.Y. Yankee Joe DiMaggio married actress Marilyn Monroe at San Francisco's City Hall. The union lasted nine months.
- 1957: Humphrey Bogart, whose films included "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca," died.
- 1963: George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge in his inaugural address of "segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever!"
- 1972: "Sanford & Son" debuted on NBC.
- 1976: Ted Turner became CEO of the Atlanta Braves.
- 1981: The FCC freed stations to air as many commercials an hour as they wish, and removed any obligation to allocate time for news or public affairs programming.
- 1985: Martina Navratilova joined Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert Lloyd as the only professional tennis players to win 100 tournaments.
- 1989: A thousand Muslims burn Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses."
- 1990: "The Simpsons" premiered on Fox.
- 1993: Talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving his late night show after 11 years on NBC to sign a $16 million deal with CBS.
- 1998: Researchers in Dallas, Texas present findings about an enzyme that slows aging and cell death (apoptosis).
- 1998: An Afghan cargo plane crashes into a mountain in southwest Pakistan killing more than 50 people.
- 1999: Toronto, Ontario Mayor Mel Lastman becomes the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralyzes the city.
- 2000: A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village.
- 2004: The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.
- 2005: Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan.