03 January History
- 1521 - Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
- 1777 - General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey.
- 1861 - Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding from the Union.
- 1903 - The Bulgarian government renounces the Treaty of Commerce tying it to the Austro-Hungarian empire.
- 1910 - The Social Democratic Congress in Germany demands universal suffrage.
- 1912 - Plans are announced for a new $150,000 Brooklyn stadium for the Trolley Dodgers baseball team.
- 1916 - Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal.
- 1920 - The last of the U.S. troops depart France.
- 1921 - Italy halts the issuing of passports to those emigrating to the United States.
- 1924 - King Tutankhamen's sarcophagus is uncovered near Luxor, Egypt.
- 1930 - The second conference on Germany's war reparations begins at the Hague, in the Netherlands.
- 1931 - Hundreds of farmers storm a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.
- 1933 - The Japanese take Shuangyashan, China, killing 500 Chinese.
- 1946 - President Harry S. Truman calls on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis.
- 1958 - The British create the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general.
- 1959 - Alaska is admitted into the Union as the 49th and largest state.
- 1959 - Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army.
- 1961 - The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
- 1966 - Cambodia warns the United Nations of retaliation unless the United States and South Vietnam end intrusions.
- 1978 - North Vietnamese troops reportedly occupy 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces.
- 1985 - President Ronald Reagan condemns a rash of arson attacks on abortion clinics.
03 January Birthdays
- 106 BC - Marcus Cicero, Roman statesman and author.
- 1621 - William Tucker, believed to be first African-American born in the New World.
- 1793 - Lucretia Coffin Mott, women's rights advocate and founder of the first Women's Rights Convention.
- 1901 - Ngo Dinh Diem, South Vietnamese president assassinated by his own generals.