January 17, 1950 – 11 men stole more than $2 million ($29 million today) from the Brink’s Armored Car Depot in Boston, Massachusetts (the largest robbery in U.S. history at that time). It was almost the perfect crime as the culprits weren’t caught until January 1956, just days before the statute of limitations for the theft expired. One of the gang’s members agreed to testify against his fellow robbers; eight were convicted and received life sentences, and two died before they could come to trial. Only a small part of the money was ever recovered.
January 20, 1944 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States.
January 21, 1954 – The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear powered submarine, was launched at Groton, Connecticut. It shares its name with Captain Nemo’s ship in the 1870 Jules Verne classic “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
January 21, 1976 – The Concorde supersonic jet began passenger service cruising at twice the speed of sound.