JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: So, sometimes I like to look at these "What happened on this date" sites for ideas on topics I might write about here. (It's also very useful when you're setting fiction in the past - a quick and easy way to remind yourself of world events and entertainments trends your characters would have experienced. Let me tell you: January 30th takes it to a new level.
It turns out January 30th is some sort of Day of Destiny. Don't believe me? Check it out:
1848 - California Gold Rush
James Marshall finds the first gold nugget at Coloma, California, leading to more than half a million people racing westward to find the precious metal (and incidentally giving the state it's nickname.)
1933 - The rise of Hitler
After the Nazi Party retained its position as the largest party in the November 1932 parliamentary elections, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor by German president Paul von Hindenberg.
1948 - Mahatma Gandhi assassinated
After the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, sectarian violence spiked across India. Mohandas Gandhi responded by traveling to troubled areas, fasting and praying for peace and meeting with local leaders of all religions. He was
keeping a vigil in New Delhi when he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist.
1968 - the Tet Offensive
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army launched a series of well-coordinated surprise attacks in South Vietnam, the largest military action of the war up to that point. Although it failed to cause the collapse of the South Vietnamese government, the Tet Offensive started a major escalation of the war, which would see an additional 200,000 American soldiers deployed, and led in time to the collapse of public and political support for the war in the US. 
1969 - Beatles last public performance
The Beatles make their last public performance in an
impromptu concert (meant to be the climax of the documentary Let It Be) on the roof of their Saville Row recording studio. In April 1970, Paul McCartney formally announced the group's
breakup. 1972 - Bloody Sunday
In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, British soldiers shot 26 unarmed demonstrators, protesting the British policy of internment without trial. British authorities had ordered the march banned, and sent
troops to confront the demonstrators when it went ahead. The soldiers
fired indiscriminately into the crowd, killing 13 and
wounding 17.
You see what I mean? That's a lot to take on one day. (Today is also the birthday of Dick Cheney and FDR - make of that what you will.) Going from historical precedent, I'd suggest this is a good day to stay snug at home - or to take a refreshing walk with no one else around. What personal history are you going to be making today, dear readers?
