Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Jan. 30. The first attempt on the life of a U.S. president took place on this date in 1835. A gunman often described in historical accounts as a disgruntled office-seeker shot twice at President Andrew Jackson -- but missed, and Jackson was not injured. Advertisement It was on this date in 1948 that Indian religious and political leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi. His killer was a Hindu extremist. Too bad someone didn't try to take a shot at Adolf Hitler on this date in 1933, when he became chancellor of Germany. Might've saved millions of lives. What's known as the Tet offensive began on this date in 1968 during the Vietnam War. After calling for a cease-fire during the Tet holiday celebrations, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong attacked the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon -- temporarily occupying the U.S. Embassy. As revolutionary fever swept Iran, the Iranian government announced on this date in 1979 that it would let exiled Shiite Moslem leader Ayatollah Khomeini return from exile. Khomeini was extremely anti-American. Washington -- which had propped up the regime of the Shah for years -- responded to news of Khomeini's imminent return by ordering the evacuation of all U.S. dependents from Iran. Advertisement The heaviest ground fighting of the Gulf War took place on this date in 1991, when Iraqi armored forces charged out of Kuwait and engaged allied forces in Khafji, Saudi Arabia. 12 U.S. Marines were killed. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
