January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 334 days remaining until the end of the year This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).
+ 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
+ 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
+ 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
+ 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
+ 1950 – United States President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
+ 2018 – Blue moon and total lunar eclipse
( Births )
+ 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer and police officer (d. 1994)
+ 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1972)
+ 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)
+ 1941 – Dick Gephardt, American lawyer and politician
+ 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player