These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.

“These Are My Children” holds a significant place in television history as one of the earliest soap operas. Created by Irna Phillips, the renowned pioneer of the soap opera genre, the show premiered on January 31, 1949, on NBC. It is considered the first network daytime soap opera in the United States.

The series was a 15-minute daily program that aired live and focused on the lives of the residents of a fictional Midwestern town called Hopeville. The characters and storylines revolved around the typical elements of soap operas, including love, family dynamics, and various personal and social issues.

Despite being a groundbreaking show, “These Are My Children” faced challenges and was short-lived. The production quality and technical limitations of live television during that era, along with the pressure of daily broadcasting, contributed to the show’s demise. Additionally, the cast and crew were relatively inexperienced in the new medium of television, which further impacted the production.

“These Are My Children” lasted only a few weeks, with its final episode airing on February 25, 1949. While the show itself did not achieve long-term success, it paved the way for the evolution of soap operas on television. Irna Phillips went on to create and produce other successful soap operas like “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns,” which became staples of daytime television for many years.

President Truman orders the development of thermonuclear weapons.

Nauru gains independence from Australia.

A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.

3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
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Nauru gains independence from Australia.

Nauru was first settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people at least 3,000 years ago. Nauruans subsisted on coconut and pandanus fruit, and engaged in aquaculture by catching juvenile ibija fish, acclimated them to freshwater conditions, and raised them in Buada Lagoon, providing an additional reliable source of food. Traditionally only men were permitted to fish on the reef, and did so from canoes or by using trained man-of-war hawks.

There were traditionally 12 clans or tribes on Nauru, which are represented in the 12-pointed star in the nation’s flag. Nauruans traced their descent on the female side. The first Europeans to encounter the island were on the British whaling ship Hunter, in 1798. When the ship approached, “many canoes ventured out to meet the ship. The Hunter’s crew did not leave the ship nor did Nauruans board, but Captain John Fearn’s positive impression of the island and its people” led to its English name, Pleasant Island. This name was used until Germany annexed the island 90 years later.

From around 1830, Nauruans had contact with Europeans from whaling ships and traders who replenished their supplies at Nauru. The islanders traded food for alcoholic toddy and firearms. The first Europeans to live on the island, starting perhaps in 1830, were Patrick Burke and John Jones, Irish convicts who had escaped from Norfolk Island, according to Paradise for Sale. Jones became “Nauru’s first and last dictator,” who killed or banished several other beachcombers who arrived later, until the Nauruans banished Jones from the island in 1841.

The introduction of firearms and alcohol destroyed the peaceful coexistence of the 12 tribes living on the island. A 10-year internal war began in 1878 and resulted in a reduction of the population from 1,400 to around 900. Ultimately, alcohol was banned and some arms were confiscated.

Nauru became self-governing in January 1966. On 31 January 1968, following a two-year constitutional convention, Nauru became the world’s smallest independent republic. It was led by founding president Hammer DeRoburt. In 1967, the people of Nauru purchased the assets of the British Phosphate Commissioners, and in June 1970, control passed to the locally owned Nauru Phosphate Corporation. Money gained from the exploitation of phosphate was put into the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust and gave Nauruans the second highest GDP Per Capita and one of the highest standards of living in the Third World.

In 1989, Nauru took legal actions against Australia in the International Court of Justice over Australia’s actions during its administration of Nauru. In particular, Nauru made a legal complaint against Australia’s failure to remedy the environmental damage caused by phosphate mining. Certain Phosphate Lands: Nauru v. Australia led to an out-of-court settlement to rehabilitate the mined-out areas of Nauru.

By the close of the twentieth century, the finite phosphate supplies were fast running out. Nauru finally joined the UN in 1999.

Nauru gains its independence from Australia.

During World War II, Nauru was subject to significant damage from both Axis and Allied forces.

On 6 and 7 December 1940 the Nazi German auxiliary cruisers Orion and Komet sank four merchant ships. On the next day, Komet shelled Nauru’s phosphate mining areas, oil storage depots, and the shiploading cantilever. The attacks seriously disrupted phosphate supplies to Australia and New Zealand.

Japanese troops occupied Nauru on 26 August 1942. The native Nauruans were badly treated by the occupying forces. On one occasion thirty nine leprosy sufferers were reputedly loaded onto boats which were towed out to sea and sunk. The Japanese troops built an airfield on Nauru which was bombed for the first time on 25 March 1943, preventing food supplies from being flown to Nauru. In 1943 the Japanese deported 1,200 Nauruans to work as labourers in the Chuuk islands.

Nauru was finally set free from the Japanese on 13 September 1945, when Captain Solda, the commander of all the Japanese troops on Nauru, surrendered the island to the Royal Australian Navy and Army. This surrender was accepted by Brigadier J. R. Stevenson, who represented Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee, the commander of the First Australian Army, on board the warship HMAS Diamantina Arrangements were made to repatriate from Chuuk the 737 Nauruans who survived Japanese captivity there. They were returned to Nauru by the BPC ship Trienza in on 1 January 1946. In 1947, a trusteeship was established by the United Nations, and Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom became the U.N. trustees of the island, with administration passing mostly to Australia.

Nauru became self-governing in January 1966. On 31 January 1968, following a two-year constitutional convention, Nauru became the world’s smallest independent republic. It was led by founding president Hammer DeRoburt. In 1967, the people of Nauru purchased the assets of the British Phosphate Commissioners, and in June 1970, control passed to the locally owned Nauru Phosphate Corporation. Money gained from the exploitation of phosphate was put into the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust and gave Nauruans the second highest GDP Per Capita and one of the highest standards of living in the Third World.

In 1989, Nauru took legal actions against Australia in the International Court of Justice over Australia’s actions during its administration of Nauru. In particular, Nauru made a legal complaint against Australia’s failure to remedy the environmental damage caused by phosphate mining. Certain Phosphate Lands: Nauru v. Australia led to an out-of-court settlement to rehabilitate the mined-out areas of Nauru.

By the close of the twentieth century, the finite phosphate supplies were fast running out. Nauru finally joined the UN in 1999.

A group of British Pakistanis are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.

The first McDonald’s in Russia opens in Moscow.