Today in history

January 31

Muharram (Islamic New Year)

1876
The U.S. government ordered that all Native Americans must move to reservations by this date or be declared hostile. Most Sioux do not even hear of the ultimatum until after the deadline.

Sitting Bull: One of several chiefs who refused to comply

1915
Pacifist priest Thomas Merton born in Pyrenees-Orientales, France.

1945
Private Eddie Slovik became the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion, and the only one who suffered such a fate during World War II. Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered Slovik’s execution be carried out, he said, to avoid further desertions in the late stages of the war.

Eddie Slovik ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eisenhower

1950
U.S. President Harry S. Truman publicly announced his decision to support the development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.

1971
The Winter Soldier Hearings began in a Howard Johnson’s motel in Detroit. Sponsored by the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the hearings were an attempt by soldiers who had served in Vietnam to publicize U.S. conduct in the war. The veterans testified that the My Lai massacre was not an isolated incident, and that some American troops had committed atrocities.
More than 100 veterans testified to brutal US acts. Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield later entered the transcript of the Winter Soldier hearings into the Congressional Record but, otherwise, the proceedings capture little attention.

Winter Soldier film–watch the trailer(appox 4 minutes)

1993
300,000 Berliners rally against attacks on immigrants, racisn and Nazism on the 60th anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power.

2000
31-Jan Illinois Gov. George Ryan halted all executions in his state after several death row inmates were found to be innocent of the crimes for which they were about to be put to death.