Spanish Flu / FDR / People / Hemingway

Mongol forces under Batu Khan defeated Russian forces under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal near Yaroslavl, ending Russian resistance.

The US Congress holds its first session in New York City as the Constitution takes effect.

Thomas Jefferson became the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.

Abraham Lincoln became the 16th US President.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) was founded in Chicago.

Private Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army visits the hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, with cold-like symptoms. Following this, over 100 other soldiers reported similar symptoms, marking the start of the 1918 Spanish flu. Ultimately killed 675,000 Americans and an estimated 20 to 50 million worldwide, surpassing World War I's death toll.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd US President, pledging to end the Great Depression with the famous words, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Ernest Hemingway completed his short novel “Old Man and the Sea¹” and wrote his publisher that it was his best. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became a bestseller.

The first issue of People magazine, featuring actress Mia Farrow from The Great Gatsby, was published.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir gets an arrest warrant for war crimes in Darfur, the first ICC case against a sitting head of state.