Kim Philby Born, Socialist Workers Cleansing, Jon Corzine Born

On this day: January 1

Spanish rule ends in Cuba (1899)

National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" (1934)

The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways (1948)

Cigarette advertisements are banned on U.S. TV (1971)

David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first Socialist mayor (1990)

al-Qaeda in Iraq attacks so-called "legitimate targets" -- Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt -- as they leave a New Year prayer service, killing 23 (2011)

b: László Endre (1895), Kim Philby (1912), Omar al-Bashir (1944), Jon Corzine (1947); d: Thomas Hobson (1631), Sergei Kourdakov (1973), Shirley Chisholm (2005), Claiborne Pell (2009), Nizar Rayan (2009)

Get 'On this day' by RSS or via daily email.