January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 363 days remaining (364 in leap years).
- 366 - Alamanni cross frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire.
- 1492 - Reconquista: Boabdil[?], King of Granada, leader of the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
- 1757 - The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India
- 1788 - Georgia becomes the 4th state of the United States to ratify the US Constitution.
- 1859 - Erastus Beadle[?] publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette[?].
- 1870 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins
- 1871 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain
- 1872 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
- 1882 - John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust
- 1890 - Alice Sanger[?] becomes the first female staffer for the White House.
- 1900 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy[?] to promote trade with China.
- 1900 - Chicago Canal[?] opens.
- 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China
- 1917 - The Royal Bank of Canada[?] takes over Quebec Bank[?].
- 1919 - Lithuania gains its independence
- 1921 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA Radio[?] in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- 1921 - DeYoung Museum[?] in Golden Gate Park[?] San Francisco opens.
- 1923 - United States Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall[?] resigns as the result of his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal
- 1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
- 1935 - Bruno Hauptmann[?] goes on trail for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
- 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
- 1942 - The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey
- 1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon[?] is assassinated.
- 1957 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
- 1959 - CBS Radio[?] cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife[?] Our Gal Sunday[?], Road of Life[?], and This is Nora Drake[?].
- 1968 - Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the first successful heart transplant[?].
- 1971 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1974 - Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
- 1979 - Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen
- 1981 - Peter Sutcliffe[?], the Yorkshire Ripper[?], is arrested
- 1983 - The musical Annie[?] is performed for the last time after after 2,377 shows (Uris Theatre[?] on Broadway, New York City).
- 1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon[?] is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
- 1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles[?] to stem inflation and promote confidence.
- 1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch[?], sculptor (+ 1857)
- 1822 - Rudolf Clausius, physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (+ 1888)
- 1859 - Anna Sacher[?], hotelier, Sacher cake[?] (+ 1930)
- 1870 - Ernst Barlach[?], sculptor, graphic artist, and poet (+ 1938)
- 1886 - Florence Lawrence, Hollywood's first "star" (+ 1938)
- 1896 - Dziga Vertov, filmmaker
- 1904 - Sally Rand[?], fan dancer (+ 1979)
- 1905 - Michael Tippett, composer (+ 1998)
- 1912 - Renato Guttuso[?], painter (+ 1987)
- 1920 - Isaac Asimov, science fiction author (+ 1992)
- 1936 - Roger Miller[?], country music singer (+ 1992)
- 1939 - Jim Bakker, televangelist
- 1939 - Konstanze Vernon[?], dancer
- 1949 - Christopher Durang, playwright
- 1954 - Dawn Silva[?], singer (The Brides of Funkenstein[?], P-Funk)
- 1963 - David Cone[?], baseball star
- 1965 - Diane Lane[?], actress
- 1966 - Tia Carrere[?], actress
- 1968 - Cuba Gooding Jr., actor
- 1969 - Christy Turlington[?], fashion model
- 1972 - Taye Diggs[?], actor
- 1904 - James Longstreet, Confederate general
- 1924 - Sabine Baring-Gould, composer, novelist
- 1939 - Roman Dmowski[?], politician
- 1963 - Dick Powell, actor
- 1974 - Tex Ritter[?], actor, singer
- 1977 - Erroll Garner[?], jazz musician
- 1990 - Alan Hale[?], actor
- 1995 - Mohammed Siyad Barre[?], President of Somalia
- 2000 - Patrick O'Brian, novelist
See Also: January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June,
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December
January 1 - January 3 - December 2 - February 2 - Historical anniversaries