On this day, British negotiator Terry Waite disappears while attempting to win freedom for Western hostages held in Lebanon. Waite, special envoy of the archbishop of Canterbury, secured the release of missionaries detained in Iran after the Islamic revolution. He also extracted British hostages from Libya and even succeeded in releasing American hostages from Lebanon in 1986. A total of 10 captives had been released through Waite's efforts before Shiite Muslims seized him during a return mission to Beirut on January 20, 1987. He was not released for more than four years.
Also on This Day
- Lead Story
- Iran Hostage Crisis ends, 1981
- American Revolution
- Battle of Millstone, New Jersey, 1777
- Automotive
- GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp., 1909
- Civil War
- Union General Burnside's troops get bogged down in mud, 1863
- Cold War
- Truman announces Point Four program, 1949
- Crime
- Football player-turned-murderer born, 1974
- Disaster
- Bullfight spectators die when bleachers collapse, 1980
- General Interest
- Hong Kong ceded to the British, 1841
- FDR inaugurated to fourth term, 1945
- John F. Kennedy inaugurated, 1961
- Terry Waite disappears, 1987
- Arafat elected leader of Palestine, 1996
- Hollywood
- Actress Audrey Hepburn dies, 1993
- Literary
- Robert Frost reads at JFK's inauguration, 1961
- Music
- Country star Jerry Lee Lewis rocks the Grand Ole Opry, 1973
- Old West
- Ronald Reagan becomes president, 1981
- Presidential
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt is sworn in as president, 1937
- Sports
- President Carter calls for Olympics to be moved from Moscow, 1980
- Vietnam War
- Richard Nixon takes office, 1969
- New communist offensive anticipated, 1972
- World War I
- Goeben and Breslau battle the Allies in the Aegean, 1918
- World War II
- The Wannsee Conference, 1942
Jan 20, 1987:
Terry Waite disappears
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This Week in History, Jan 20 - Jan 26
- Jan 20, 1841
- Hong Kong ceded to the British
- Jan 20, 1945
- FDR inaugurated to fourth term
- Jan 20, 1961
- John F. Kennedy inaugurated
- Jan 20, 1987
- Terry Waite disappears
- Jan 20, 1996
- Arafat elected leader of Palestine
- Jan 21, 1793
- King Louis XVI executed
- Jan 21, 1924
- Vladimir Lenin dies
- Jan 21, 1976
- Concorde takes off
- Jan 22, 1840
- British colonists reach New Zealand
- Jan 22, 1901
- Queen Victoria dies
- Jan 22, 1905
- First Russian Revolution begins
- Jan 22, 1973
- Supreme Court legalizes abortion
- Jan 22, 1980
- Sakharov arrested in Moscow
- Jan 23, 1849
- First woman M.D.
- Jan 23, 1922
- Insulin injection aids diabetic patient
- Jan 23, 1968
- USS Pueblo captured
- Jan 23, 1997
- Albright sworn in as secretary of state
- Jan 24, 1908
- Boy Scouts movement begins
- Jan 24, 1965
- Winston Churchill dies
- Jan 24, 1972
- Japanese soldier found hiding on Guam
- Jan 25, 1924
- First Winter Olympics
- Jan 25, 1971
- Manson and followers convicted
- Jan 25, 1981
- Mao's widow sentenced to death
- Jan 25, 1995
- Near launching of Russian nukes
- Jan 26, 1500
- Pinzon discovers Brazil
- Jan 26, 1838
- Tennessee passes nation's first prohibition law
- Jan 26, 1939
- Franco captures Barcelona
- Jan 26, 1950
- Republic of India born
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