Daily List

Today in History, January 22nd

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Plus the death of Queen Victoria and Apple's "1984" Super Bowl ad.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published January 22, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

January 22 is best known for 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, recognizing a constitutional right to abortion. The date also marks the death of Britain’s Queen Victoria in 1901 and the airing of Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl commercial.

The big story: The Supreme Court decides Roe v. Wade (1973)

The case began in Texas, where state law made most abortions a crime. The plaintiff went by the pseudonym “Jane Roe” to protect her identity. Her real name was Norma McCorvey. The defendant was Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that the Texas statutes were unconstitutional. Writing for the majority, Justice Harry Blackmun found that the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment’s due process clause covered a woman’s decision to end a pregnancy. The ruling set up a framework tied to the stages of pregnancy. States could do little to restrict abortion early on, could regulate it to protect the woman’s health in the middle months, and could ban it after the fetus became viable, except when her life or health was at risk. The ruling stood for nearly five decades. In June 2022, the Court overturned it in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

More events on January 22

Year	What happened
1840	British settlers aboard the New Zealand Company ship Aurora landed at Petone, founding the settlement that grew into Wellington.
1901	Queen Victoria died after a 63-year reign.
1905	Troops fired on workers marching to the czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, killing and wounding hundreds. “Bloody Sunday” (January 9, Old Style) sparked strikes and riots across Russia.
1944	Allied forces landed at Anzio, Italy, about 33 miles south of Rome, but stayed pinned on the beachhead for four months.
1973	Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died of a heart attack at his Texas ranch, at 64.
1980	Soviet authorities arrested physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov and banished him to Gorky after he criticized the invasion of Afghanistan.
1984	Apple’s “1984” commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, aired during Super Bowl XVIII to announce the coming Macintosh.
1998	Theodore Kaczynski, the “Unabomber,” pleaded guilty in Sacramento and accepted life in prison without parole.
2003	New Census Bureau figures showed that Hispanics had become the largest minority group in the United States.
2008	Actor Heath Ledger, 28, was found dead of an accidental prescription drug overdose in New York City.

Born on January 22

1775: André-Marie Ampère, French physicist whose name became the unit of electric current, born in Lyon.
1788: Lord Byron, English Romantic poet, born in London.
1875: D.W. Griffith, pioneering and controversial American film director, born in Kentucky.
1931: Sam Cooke, soul singer and songwriter, born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.