Major Events
- 1865 Congress passes, by vote of 121-24, the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States – except as punishment for a crime [1] [2]
- 1865 General Robert E. Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies during US Civil War
- 1943 German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to Soviet troops at Stalingrad
- 1950 US President Harry Truman publicly announces support for the development of a hydrogen bomb
- 1985 South African President P. W. Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
- More January 31 Events
Jan 31 in Film & TV
- 1949 1st US daytime soap on TV "These Are My Children" (NBC in Chicago)
Jan 31 in Music
- 1679 Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera "Bellerophon" premieres at the Palais-Royal in Paris
Jan 31 in Sport
Did You Know?
Colonization of the America's in the late 1500s killed so many people it cooled the planet and led to a "Little Ice Age", according to a scientific report published in "Quaternary Science Reviews"
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft
James G. Blaine
Thomas Merton
Norman Mailer
Lorraine Warren
Justin Timberlake
Franz Schubert
John Lydon
Henri Desgrange
Jersey Joe Walcott
Jackie Robinson
Ernie Banks
Nolan Ryan
Virginia Ruzici
Fun Fact About January 31
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, London
Famous Weddings
- 1560 Spanish King Philip II (10) marries Elisabeth of Valois (13), daughter of Henry II of France
- 1842 10th US President John Tyler's daughter Elizabeth marries in the White House
- 1960 American songwriter Adolph Green (45) weds (for 3rd and final time) American actress and singer Phyllis Newman (24) in NYC, until his death in 2002
Famous Divorces
- 1957 English-American actress Elizabeth Taylor's 2nd divorce from English actor Michael Wilding, after almost 5 years of marriage
More January 31 Weddings
Guy Fawkes
A. A. Milne
Samuel Goldwyn
Mel HeinArticles, Photos and Quiz
DNA Sheds Shocking New Light on Crippen Murder Case
A jury took 27 minutes to convict Dr Hawley Crippen of murdering his wife and burying her remains in his cellar. But shocking new DNA evidence later emerged.
January 31, 1910
Nazi General Friedrich Paulus Surrenders
German field marshal Friedrich Paulus, the highest-ranking German officer to surrender during World War II
January 31, 1943
