Today in History, January 3rd
On January 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th U.S. state. Plus Washington's win at Princeton and the Spirit rover's landing on Mars.
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January 3 is best known for 1959, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the proclamation that made Alaska the 49th state. The date also saw George Washington’s victory at Princeton in 1777 and NASA’s Spirit rover land on Mars in 2004.
The big story: Alaska becomes the 49th state (1959)
When Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to buy Alaska from Russia on March 30, 1867, plenty of people thought he had been fleeced. The price was $7.2 million, about two cents an acre, for a huge, distant territory. Critics in Congress and the newspapers called it “Seward’s folly.” The joke aged badly. The land was enormous, about a fifth the size of the rest of the country, and it was rich in natural resources. Gold found in 1898 set off a rush of newcomers. Even so, Alaska stayed a federal possession for decades. Statehood finally came on January 3, 1959, when Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting it as the 49th state and the largest of them all. It had taken 92 years to get from purchase to statehood, and the country that had once laughed at the deal now gained its biggest state.
More events on January 3
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1521 | Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther from the Catholic Church. |
| 1777 | George Washington slipped past Lord Cornwallis and beat the British rear guard at Princeton, New Jersey. |
| 1834 | Mexican authorities arrested Texas colonizer Stephen F. Austin, who was then held in prison in Mexico City, raising tensions that led toward the Texas Revolution. |
| 1861 | Delaware rejected a proposal to secede from the Union, a few weeks after South Carolina left. |
| 1868 | Samurai and nobles opposed to the shogun restored Japan’s emperor to power, launching the Meiji Restoration. |
| 1924 | In Egypt, Howard Carter’s team uncovered the stone sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, which held a solid gold coffin with the king’s mummy. |
| 1925 | Benito Mussolini declared himself dictator of Italy. |
| 1938 | President Franklin Roosevelt founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later known as the March of Dimes. |
| 1957 | Dalip Singh Saund of California was sworn in as the first Asian American and first Sikh member of Congress. |
| 1961 | The U.S. cut diplomatic ties with Cuba and closed its embassy in Havana. |
| 1990 | Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega gave himself up to U.S. forces. |
| 2004 | NASA’s rover Spirit landed on Mars. Built for a mission of 90 Martian days, it surveyed the planet for about seven years. |
Born on January 3
- 1793: Lucretia Mott, abolitionist and women’s rights leader, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
- 1892: J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, born in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
- 1969: Michael Schumacher, German Formula One champion, born in Hürth, West Germany.
Sources
- Alaska admitted into Union, History.com
- This Day in History: January 3, History.com
- NASA’s Mars rover Spirit lands on Mars, History.com
- Lucretia Mott, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- J.R.R. Tolkien, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Michael Schumacher, Encyclopaedia Britannica
