Operation Desert Storm begins in Iraq and Kuwait as coalition forces begin the aerial campaign to force Iraqi soldiers out of Kuwait. Acting in defense of United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 that demanded an Iraqi withdrawal by January 15, 1991, 34 nations began to attack Iraqi Revolutionary Guard units.
General Daniel Morgan defeats the British at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. A major turning point in the Southern theater, the Continental Army reclaimed South Carolina and forced the British, led by General Cornwallis, north, where he eventually met two Continental armies at Yorktown.
First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama is born in Chicago. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, she met Barack Obama when they were both working at Chicago law firm Sidley Austin.
Muhammad Ali born
Muhammad Ali is born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky. One of the greatest boxers in history, Ali won the 1960 Light Heavyweight gold medal, defeated every major challenger during his career, and turned to a life of philanthropy in his retirement.
American patriot, inventor, and statesman Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston. Franklin, a printer by trade, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, orchestrated the Franco-American alliance during the Revolutionary War, and signed the United States Constitution.
