TODAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 30TH

1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, designed the American Flag (b. 1752) dies.

1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.

1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician; 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945) is born.

1911 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.

1911 – The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.

1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist; invented the computer mouse (d. 2013) is born.

1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher; founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862) dies.

1941 – Dick Cheney, American politician, 46th Vice President of the United States is born.

1943 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.

1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer; co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871) dies.

1948 – Mahatma Gandhi known for his non-violent freedom struggle, is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.

1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman; founded Porsche (b. 1875) dies.

1951 – Phil Collins, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (Genesis, Brand X, and Flaming Youth) is born.

1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and "unsinkable" like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.

1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

1969 – The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.

1971 – Carole King's Tapestry album is released to become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide.

1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".

1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.