January 1967

The following events occurred in January 1967:

January 1, 1967 (Sunday)

• Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act, 1867, with the Expo 67 World's Fair as a highlight.
• Police raid a Los Angeles gay bar, the Black Cat Tavern, arrest several patrons for kissing as they celebrate New Year,^[1] and begin violence that escalates into a more widespread riot.

January 2, 1967 (Monday)

• The South African Grand Prix is won by Pedro Rodríguez.

January 3, 1967 (Tuesday)

• A reshuffle takes place within the government of Luxembourg, under prime minister Pierre Werner.^[2]
• Born: Miguel Poiares Maduro, Portuguese academic and politician, in Coimbra.
• Died: Jack Ruby, US nightclub proprietor, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, 55 (pulmonary embolism)]].^[3]

January 4, 1967 (Wednesday)

• Died: Ezra Norton, 69, Australian newspaper magnate

January 5, 1967 (Thursday)

• Spain and Romania sign in Paris an agreement establishing full consular and commercial relations (not diplomatic ones).
• Charlie Chaplin's last film, A Countess from Hong Kong, completes filming.^[4]

January 6, 1967 (Friday)

• Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch Operation Deckhouse Five in the Mekong Delta.

January 7, 1967 (Saturday)

• UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson's first Ministry is given a reshuffle: Harold Lever and Peter Shore both join the ministerial team in the Department for Economic Affairs; Eirene White and Walter Padley leave Foreign Affairs, to be replaced by George Thomson and Fred Mulley; and John Stonehouse is made Minister of State for Aviation, his former role of Parliamentary Secretary for Aviation being abolished. Lord Shackleton and Patrick Gordon Walker become Ministers without Portfolio.

January 8, 1967 (Sunday)

• Vietnam War: Operation Cedar Falls starts.
• Born: R. Kelly, US singer, in Chicago

January 9, 1967 (Monday)

• Ban Naden raid: A Lao raiding party carries out the only successful rescue of prisoners of war during the Vietnam War; no American prisoners are among those freed from the camp.^[5]
• Handen murders: Two police officers are killed by Leif Peters in Handen, Sweden, while intercepting an attempted robbery.^[6]

January 11, 1967 (Wednesday)

• The Intelsat II F-2 communications satellite is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17, Florida, US.^[7]
• Died: Sir Eruera Tirikatene, 72, New Zealand Maori politician; Wolfgang Zeller, 74, German film composer

January 12, 1967 (Thursday)

• Following his death from cancer, Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with the intent of future resuscitation.^[8]

January 13, 1967 (Friday)

• A military coup takes place in Togo under the leadership of Étienne Eyadema. President Nicolas Grunitzky, appointed president by an "Insurrection Committee" following a coup of 1963, is ousted.

January 14, 1967 (Saturday)

• The New York Times reports that the U.S. Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments.
• The Human Be-In takes place in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; the event sets the stage for the Summer of Love.

January 15, 1967 (Sunday)

• Louis Leakey announces the discovery of pre-human fossils in Kenya; he names the species Kenyapithecus africanus.
• The United Kingdom enters the first round of negotiations for European Economic Community membership in Rome.
• American football: The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the First AFL-NFL World Championship Game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

January 16, 1967 (Monday)

• A referendum is held in Goa to decide the future of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu within the Indian Union. The people of Goa vote against the merger and Goa continues as a union territory.^[9]
• Hovhannes Tcholakian is confirmed as Bishop in the Armenian Catholic Church.
• 39th Rescue Squadron of the United States Air Force is formed at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base with six Lockheed HC-130Hs transferred from the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron.^[10]

January 18, 1967 (Wednesday)

• Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous crimes and sentenced to life in prison.
• Jeremy Thorpe becomes leader of the UK's Liberal Party.
• A Fistful of Dollars, the first significant "spaghetti Western" film, is released in the United States.

January 19, 1967 (Thursday)

• Kosmos 138, a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite, is launched by a Vostok-2 rocket, serial number N15001-05,^[11] from Site 41/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

January 20, 1967 (Friday)

• Died: Giulio Calì, 71, Italian film actor

January 21, 1967 (Saturday)

• Skater Peggy Fleming wins her fourth successive Ladies title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
• Died: Princess Dorothea of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 85, Austrian duchess

January 22, 1967 (Sunday)

• The Pro Bowl, the US National Football League's seventeenth annual all-star game, is played in a heavy rainstorm at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.^[12]

January 23, 1967 (Monday)

• In Munich, the trial begins of Wilhelm Harster, accused of the murder of 82,856 Jews (including Anne Frank) when he led German security police during the German occupation of the Netherlands. He is eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison.

January 24, 1967 (Tuesday)

• Died: Luigi Federzoni, 88, Italian Fascist politician

January 25, 1967 (Wednesday)

• In the Kuwaiti general election, the incumbent government retains power.^[13] Pro-government candidates remained the largest bloc in Parliament. Voter turnout was 65.6%.^[14]

January 26, 1967 (Thursday)

• The Parliament of the United Kingdom decides to nationalize 90% of the British steel industry.

January 27, 1967 (Friday)

• On the same day that the US, Soviet Union and UK sign the Outer Space Treaty, Apollo 1 is destroyed by fire on the launch pad.^[15]
• Died: American astronauts Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, 40, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, 36, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee, 31, killed in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34

January 28, 1967 (Saturday)

• In one of the biggest upsets in the history of Scottish football, Berwick Rangers defeat Glasgow Rangers 1-0 in a Scottish Cup match at Shielfield Park (located in the English county of Northumberland).^[16][17]
• Died: Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, 71, Israeli politician^[18]

January 29, 1967 (Sunday)

• In the Japanese general election, the Liberal Democratic Party win 277 out of 486 seats.^[19]

January 30, 1967 (Monday)

• In the UK, the final section of the North Cornwall Railway, between Bodmin and Wadebridge, is closed as a result of the Beeching cuts.^[20]

January 31, 1967 (Tuesday)

• West Germany and Romania establish diplomatic relations.

References