Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Saturday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2016. There are 336 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On Jan. 30, 1945, during World War II, more than 500 Allied captives held at the Japanese prison camp in Cabanatuan (kah-bah-nah-TOO’-ahn) in the Philippines were liberated by U.S. Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrilla fighters. Adolf Hitler marked the 12th anniversary of his appointment as Germany’s chancellor with his last public speech in which he called on Germans to keep resisting until victory.
On this date:
In 1615, Thomas Rolfe, the only child of John Rolfe and his wife, Rebecca (the former Pocahontas), was born in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. In 1649, England’s King Charles I was executed for treason.
In 1815, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in agreeing to purchase the personal book collection of former President Thomas Jefferson to replace volumes lost when the British burned the U.S. Capitol and its congressional library during the War of 1812.
In 1882, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in Hyde Park, New York. In 1911, James White, an intellectually disabled black man who’d been convicted of rape for having sex with a 14-year-old white girl when he was 16, was publicly hanged in Bell County, Kentucky.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The first episode of the “Lone Ranger” radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.
In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse (neh-too-RAHM’ gahd-SAY’), a Hindu extremist. (Godse and a co-conspirator were later executed.) Aviation pioneer Orville Wright, 76, died in Dayton, Ohio.
In 1962, two members of “The Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit.
Thought for Today: “Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you’re scared to death.” – Harold Wilson, British prime minister (1916-1995).
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Friday, Jan. 29, the 29th day of 2016. There are 337 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.
On this date:
In 1820, Britain’s King George III died at Windsor Castle.
In 1843, the 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.
In 1861, Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.
In 1919, the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.
In 1936, the first inductees of baseball’s Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, New York.
In 1956, editor-essayist H.L. Mencken, the “Sage of Baltimore,” died at age 75.
In 1958, actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in Las Vegas.
In 1964, Stanley Kubrick’s nuclear war satire “Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” premiered in New York, Toronto and London. The Winter Olympic Games opened in Innsbruck, Austria. Actor Alan Ladd, 50, died in Palm Springs, California.
In 1975, a bomb exploded inside the U.S. State Department in Washington, causing considerable damage, but injuring no one; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility.
In 1990, former Exxon Valdez (val-DEEZ’) skipper Joseph Hazelwood went on trial in Anchorage, Alaska, on charges stemming from the 1989 oil spill. (Hazelwood was acquitted of the major charges, and convicted of a misdemeanor.) In 1995, the San Francisco 49ers became the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles, beating the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX.
In 1998, a bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)
In 2005, Jetliners from China landed in rival Taiwan for the first time in 56 years. Serena Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open final. Ashley McElhiney, the first female coach of a men’s pro basketball team, was fired after an on-court dispute with Sally Anthony, co-owner of the Nashville Rhythm of the ABA. Irina Slutskaya won a sixth title at the European Figure Skating Championships.
Ten years ago: ABC “World News Tonight” co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq. Roger Federer won his seventh Grand Slam title, overcoming an early challenge from unseeded Marcos Baghdatis to win the Australian Open 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. Avant garde video artist Nam June Paik died in Miami at age 74.
Five years ago: With protests raging, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, as his first-ever vice president as chaos engulfed Cairo. Kim Clijsters finally won her first Australian Open title and the fourth major of her career, after she beat Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Alissa Czisny won her second title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Thursday, Jan. 28, the 28th day of 2016. There are 338 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On Jan. 28, 1915, the United States Coast Guard was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill merging the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service. The American merchant vessel SS William P. Frye, en route to England with a cargo of wheat, became the first U.S. ship to be sunk during World War I by a German cruiser, the SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich, even though the United States was not at war.
On this date:
In 1547, England’s King Henry VIII died; he was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI.
In 1813, the novel “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen was first published anonymously in London.
In 1909, the United States withdrew its forces from Cuba as Jose Miguel Gomez became president.
In 1939, Irish poet-dramatist William Butler Yeats died in Menton, France.
In 1945, during World War II, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
In 1956, Elvis Presley made his first national TV appearance on “Stage Show,” a CBS program hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.
In 1962, the last of Washington, D.C.’s original streetcars made its final run.
In 1973, a cease-fire officially went into effect in the Vietnam War.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Wednesday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2016. There are 339 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 27, 1945, during World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.
On this date:
In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
In 1901, opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy, at age 87.
In 1913, the musical play “The Isle O’ Dreams” opened in New York; it featured the song “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” by Ernest R. Ball, Chauncey Olcott and George Graff Jr.
In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.
In 1951, an era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.
In 1965, “Up the Down Staircase,” Bel Kaufman’s novel about a young, idealistic teacher at a New York inner-city school, was published by Prentice-Hall.
In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft. More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.
In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.
In 1977, the Vatican issued a declaration reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on female priests.
In 1984, singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
In 1998, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, on NBC’s “Today” show, charged the sexual misconduct allegations against her husband were the work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
In 2005, Condoleezza Rice, in her first day on the job as Secretary of State, reached out by phone to European allies and partners in the war on terrorism and echoed President George W. Bush’s inaugural charge to promote liberty across the globe. Frail survivors and humbled world leaders remembered the victims of the Holocaust as they marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 26, the 26th day of 2016. There are 340 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 26, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act, which created America’s 10th national park.
On this date:
In 1784, in a letter to his daughter Sarah, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the choice of the bald eagle as the symbol of America, and stated his own preference: the turkey.
In 1788, the first European settlers in Australia, led by Capt. Arthur Phillip, landed in present-day Sydney.
In 1837, Michigan became the 26th state.
In 1870, Virginia rejoined the Union.
In 1925, actor Paul Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
In 1939, during the Spanish Civil War, rebel forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco captured Barcelona.
In 1942, the first American Expeditionary Force to go to Europe during World War II arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In 1950, India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president.
In 1962, the United States launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon – but the probe ended up missing its target by more than 22,000 miles.
In 1979, former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller died in New York at age 70.
In 1988, Australians celebrated the 200th anniversary of their country as a grand parade of tall ships re-enacted the voyage of the first European settlers. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Phantom of the Opera” opened at Broadway’s Majestic Theater.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton forcefully denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
In 2005, A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in western Iraq, killing 30 Marines and a Navy medic aboard. A man parked his SUV on railroad tracks in Glendale, California, setting off a crash of two commuter trains that killed 11 people. (The SUV’s driver, Juan Alvarez, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms.) Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as secretary of state, following her confirmation by the Senate.
Ten years ago: Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Denmark to protest caricatures of the prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper. (Protests spread across the Muslim world for weeks, and dozens of people were killed.) Confronted by Oprah Winfrey on her syndicated talk show, author James Frey acknowledged lies in his addiction memoir “A Million Little Pieces.”
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Monday, Jan. 25, the 25th day of 2016. There are 341 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 25, 1915, America’s first official transcontinental telephone call took place as Alexander Graham Bell, who was in New York, spoke to his former assistant, Thomas Watson, who was in San Francisco, over a line set up by American Telephone & Telegraph.
On this date:
In 1533, England’s King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who later gave birth to Elizabeth I.
In 1890, reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
In 1915, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Coppage v. Kansas, upheld the right of employers to bar employees from belonging to labor unions by making them sign a “yellow dog contract.”
In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix (shah-moh-NEE’), France.
In 1945, the World War II Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces were pushed back to their original positions. Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first community to add fluoride to its public water supply.
In 1947, American gangster Al Capone died in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 48.
In 1955, the Soviet Union formally ended its state of war with Germany.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference to be carried live on radio and television.
In 1971, Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. Idi Amin seized power in Uganda by ousting President Milton Obote (oh-BOH’-tay) in a military coup.
In 1981, the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States.
In 1990, an Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, Long Island, New York; 73 of the 158 people aboard were killed. Actress Ava Gardner died in London at age 67. In 1995, the U.S. and Norway launched a Black Brant rocket carrying equipment to study the aurora borealis, startling Russian officials who wondered at first if the rocket was an incoming Trident missile. (Russian President Boris Yeltsin reportedly was given his “nuclear briefcase” for possible retaliation before realizing there was no threat.)
In 2005, A videotape showed Roy Hallums, an American kidnapped in Baghdad the previous November, pleading for his life. (Hallums was rescued by coalition troops on Sept. 7, 2005.) A stampede during a Hindu festival in western India killed some 300 people. Architect Philip Johnson died in New Canaan, Connecticut, at age 98.
Ten years ago: In his first encyclical, “God Is Love,” Pope Benedict XVI said the Roman Catholic Church had a duty through its charitable work to influence political leaders to ease suffering and promote justice. Seven children were killed when the car they were in was crushed between a truck and a stopped school bus in Lake Butler, Florida. Richard Hatch of “Survivor” fame was convicted in Providence, Rhode Island, of failing to pay taxes on his $1 million in winnings.
Thought for Today: “A first-rate organizer is never in a hurry. He is never late. He always keeps up his sleeve a margin for the unexpected.” – Arnold Bennett, English poet, author
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Saturday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2016. There are 343 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 23, 1516, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, who with his late queen consort, Isabella of Castile, sponsored the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, died in Madrigalejo, Spain.
On this date:
In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.
In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called “Lame Duck Amendment,” was ratified as Missouri approved it.
In 1944, Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (“The Scream”) died near Oslo at age 80.
In 1950, the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
In 1960, the U.S. Navy-operated bathyscaphe (BATH’-ih-skahf) Trieste carried two men to the deepest known point in the Pacific Ocean, reaching a depth of more than 35,000 feet.
In 1964, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.
In 1968, North Korea seized the Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released 11 months later.)
In 1973, President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War, and would be formally signed four days later in Paris.
In 1989, surrealist artist Salvador Dali died in his native Figueres, Spain, at age 84.
In 1995, the Supreme Court, in McKennon vs. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., ruled that companies accused of firing employees illegally could not escape liability by later finding a lawful reason to justify the dismissal.
In 2005, former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson died in Los Angeles at age 79.
Ten years ago: Ford Motor Co. said it would cut up to 30,000 jobs and idle 14 facilities in North America by 2012. A U.S. military jury at Fort Carson, Colorado, ordered a reprimand, but no jail time, for Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr., an Army interrogator convicted of killing an Iraqi general. Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party won Canada’s national elections, ending 13 years of Liberal rule.
Five years ago: Allies and adversaries of President Hugo Chavez took to the streets of Caracas by the thousands, staging rival demonstrations to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of Venezuela’s democracy. Fitness guru Jack LaLanne died in Morro Bay, California, at age 96. The Pittsburgh Steelers advanced to their third Super Bowl in six years with a 24-19 victory over the New York Jets to win the AFC championship. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Chicago Bears, 21-14, in the NFC championship game.
One year ago: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, 90, the powerful U.S. ally who’d fought against al-Qaida and sought to modernize the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, died in Riyadh.
Thought for Today: “It’s not what you are, it’s what you don’t become that hurts.” – Oscar Levant, pianist-composer-actor (1906-1972)
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Friday, Jan. 22, the 22nd day of 2016. There are 344 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, legalized abortions using a trimester approach. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at his Texas ranch at age 64.
On this date:
In 1498, during his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the present-day Caribbean island of St. Vincent.
In 1901, Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81 after a reign of 63 years; she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII.
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson pleaded for an end to war in Europe, calling for “peace without victory.” (By April, however, America also was at war.)
In 1922, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.
In 1938, Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” was performed publicly for the first time in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.
In 1953, the Arthur Miller drama “The Crucible” opened on Broadway.
In 1968, “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” premiered on NBC-TV.
In 1970, the first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York and ended in London some 6 1/2 hours later.
In 1984, the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38-9 to win Super Bowl XVIII (18) at Tampa Stadium in Florida; the CBS-TV broadcast featured Apple Computer’s famous “1984” commercial introducing the Macintosh computer.
In 1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at age 104.
In 2008, actor Heath Ledger was found dead of an accidental prescription overdose in New York City; he was 28.
Ten years ago: Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indian president, took office with a promise to lift his nation’s struggling indigenous majority out of centuries of poverty and discrimination. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the AFC title game, dismantling the Denver Broncos 34-17. The Seattle Seahawks claimed the NFC title, routing the Carolina Panthers 34-14.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Thursday, Jan. 21, the 21st day of 2016. There are 345 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 21, 1976, British Airways and Air France inaugurated scheduled passenger service on the supersonic Concorde jet.
On this date:
In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.
In 1861, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four other Southerners whose states had seceded from the Union resigned from the U.S. Senate.
In 1908, New York City’s Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance prohibiting women from smoking in public establishments (the measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr., but not before one woman, Katie Mulcahey, was jailed overnight for refusing to pay a fine).
In 1915, the first Kiwanis Club, dedicated to community service, was founded in Detroit.
In 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.
In 1937, Count Basie and his band recorded “One O’Clock Jump” for Decca Records (on this date in 1942, they re-recorded the song for Okeh Records).
In 1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton (GRAH’-tuhn), Connecticut (however, the Nautilus did not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later).
In 1968, the Battle of Khe Sanh began during the Vietnam War. An American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed in Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
In 1982, convict-turned-author Jack Henry Abbott was found guilty in New York of first-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of waiter Richard Adan in 1981. (Abbott was later sentenced to 15 years to life in prison; he committed suicide in 2002.)
In 1994, a jury in Manassas, Virginia, found Lorena Bobbitt not guilty by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding her husband John, whom she’d accused of sexually assaulting her. In 2010, a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, vastly increased the power of big business and labor unions to influence government decisions by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress.
Ten years ago: Rescuers in West Virginia found the bodies of two miners who’d disappeared after a conveyor belt caught fire deep inside a coal mine. A Red Cross-chartered helicopter used for earthquake relief in Pakistan went missing (the wreckage of the copter and the bodies of the seven people on board were found in June 2006).
Five years ago: Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, seriously wounded in a shooting rampage, was transferred from the University Medical Center trauma center in Tucson to Texas Medical Center in Houston to undergo months of therapy.
Thought for Today: “I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” – George Burns, American comedian (1896-1996).
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 19, the 19th day of 2016. There are 347 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 19, 1966, Indira Gandhi was chosen to be prime minister of India by the National Congress party. (Gandhi, a powerful as well as polarizing figure, served as India’s prime minister from 1966 to 1977, and again beginning in 1980 until she was assassinated in 1984.)
On this date:
In 1807, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
In 1853, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Il Trovatore” premiered in Rome.
In 1861, Georgia became the fifth state to secede from the Union.
In 1915, Germany carried out its first air raid on Britain during World War I as a pair of Zeppelins dropped bombs onto Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in England.
In 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
In 1942, during World War II, Japan invaded Burma (Myanmar).
In 1955, a presidential news conference was filmed for television and newsreels for the first time, with the permission of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In 1960, the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America was signed by both countries in Washington, D.C.
In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court; however, the nomination was defeated because of controversy over Carswell’s past racial views.
In 1977, in one of his last acts of office, President Gerald R. Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D’Aquino, an American convicted of treason for making wartime broadcasts for Japan.
In 1981, the United States and Iran signed an accord paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.
In 1992, German government and Jewish officials dedicated a Holocaust memorial at the villa on the outskirts of Berlin where the notorious Wannsee Conference had taken place.
Ten years ago: Osama bin Laden, in an audiotape that was his first in more than a year, said al-Qaida was preparing for attacks in the United States; at the same time, he offered a “long-term truce” without specifying the conditions. Vice President Dick Cheney defended the administration’s domestic surveillance program, calling it an essential tool in monitoring al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. An unmanned NASA spacecraft, New Horizons, blasted off on a 3-billion-mile journey toward Pluto (the spacecraft flew by Pluto in the summer of 2015). A fire at a Massey Energy Co. mine in West Virginia killed two workers. Death claimed soul pioneer Wilson Pickett at age 64 and actor Anthony Franciosa at age 77.
Five years ago: Chinese President Hu Jintao, visiting the White House, declared “a lot still needs to be done” to improve his country’s record on human rights; the exchange with President Barack Obama over human rights was balanced by U.S. delight over newly announced Chinese business deals expected to generate about $45 billion in new export sales for the U.S.
One year ago: As he headed home from a week-long trip to Asia, Pope Francis upheld church teaching banning contraception, but said Catholics didn’t have to breed “like rabbits” and should instead practice responsible parenting.
Thought for Today: “Love without passion is dreary; passion without love is horrific.” – Abraham Cowley, English poet
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Monday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2016. There are 348 days left in the year. This is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 18, 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.
On this date:
In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the “Sandwich Islands.”
In 1862, the tenth president of the United States, John Tyler, died in Richmond, Virginia, at age 71, shortly before he could take his seat as an elected member of the Confederate Congress.
In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, held to negotiate peace treaties ending the First World War, opened in Versailles (vehr-SY’), France.
In 1936, Nobel Prize-winning author Rudyard Kipling, 70, died in London.
In 1943, during World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops, who eventually succeeded in crushing the rebellion. A U.S. ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread – aimed at reducing bakeries’ demand for metal replacement parts – went into effect.
In 1957, a trio of B-52’s completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft.
In 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the “Boston Strangler,” was convicted in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo was killed in prison in 1973.)
In 1970, David Oman McKay, the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at the age of 96.
In 1988, a China Southwest Airlines Ilyushin 18 crashed while on approach to Chongqing Airport, killing all 108 people on board.
In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
In 1996, Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson filed for divorce from Michael Jackson.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton, in a farewell from the Oval Office, told the nation that America had “done well” during his presidency, with record-breaking prosperity and a cleaner environment.
Thought for Today: “None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.” – John Milton, English poet
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Saturday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2016. There are 350 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 16, 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Allied forces prevailed on Feb. 28, 1991.)
On this date:
In 1547, Ivan IV of Russia (popularly known as “Ivan the Terrible”) was crowned Czar.
In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former slaves. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, is believed to have inspired the expression, “Forty acres and a mule.”) In 1883, the U.S. Civil Service Commission was established. In 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification.In 1935, fugitive gangster Fred Barker and his mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, were killed in a shootout with the FBI at Lake Weir, Florida.
Thought for Today: “I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them.” – E.V. Lucas, English writer and publisher
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Friday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2016. There are 351 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 15, 1976, Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in San Francisco. (Moore was released on the last day of 2007.)
On this date:
In 1559, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
In 1777, the people of New Connecticut declared their independence. (The republic later became the state of Vermont.)
In 1862, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Abraham Lincoln’s choice of Edwin M. Stanton to be the new Secretary of War, replacing Simon Cameron.
In 1865, as the Civil War neared its end, Union forces captured Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, depriving the Confederates of their last major seaport.
In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta.
In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).
In 1947, the mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who came to be known as the “Black Dahlia,” were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot; her slaying remains unsolved.
In 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, known retroactively as Super Bowl I.
In 1981, the police drama series “Hill Street Blues” premiered on NBC.
In 1993, a historic disarmament ceremony ended in Paris with the last of 125 countries signing a treaty banning chemical weapons.
In 2001, President-elect George W. Bush marked the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday at an elementary school in Houston, where he promised black Americans: “My job will be to listen not only to the successful, but also to the suffering.” Wikipedia, a web-based encyclopedia, made its debut.
In 2009, US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger ditched his Airbus 320 in the Hudson River after a flock of birds disabled both engines; all 155 people aboard survived.
Ten years ago: After a seven-year journey, a NASA space capsule, Stardust, returned safely to Earth with the first dust ever fetched from a comet. Michelle Bachelet (bah-cheh-LET’) was elected Chile’s first woman president. Kuwait’s longtime ruler, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, died; he was succeeded by the crown prince, Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah.
Five years ago: Several international envoys – but crucially none from the world powers – got a look inside an Iranian nuclear site at the invitation of the Tehran government before a new round of talks on Iran’s disputed atomic activities. Miss Nebraska Teresa Scanlan won the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas. Actress Susannah York, 72, died in London.
One year ago: In its first lethal injection since a botched one the previous spring, Oklahoma executed a convicted killer with a three-drug method.
Thought for Today: “A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.” – Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Thursday, Jan. 14, the 14th day of 2016. There are 352 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 14, 1966, Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue in Manhattan were converted from two-way to one-way streets to improve traffic flow. (To this day, vehicles head south on Fifth, while traveling north on Madison.)
On this date:
In 1784, the United States ratified the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War; Britain followed suit in April 1784.
In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel ended hostilities between Denmark and Sweden, with Denmark agreeing to cede Norway to Sweden, something Norway refused to accept.
In 1900, Puccini’s opera “Tosca” had its world premiere in Rome.
In 1914, Ford Motor Co. greatly improved its assembly-line operation by employing an endless chain to pull each chassis along at its Highland Park plant.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French General Charles de Gaulle opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.
In 1952, NBC’s “Today” show premiered, with Dave Garroway as the host, or “communicator.”
In 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married at San Francisco City Hall. (The marriage lasted about nine months.)
In 1963, George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with the pledge, “Segregation forever!” – a view Wallace later repudiated. Sylvia Plath’s novel “The Bell Jar” was published in London under a pseudonym less than a month before Plath committed suicide.
In 1969, 27 people aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, off Hawaii, were killed when a rocket warhead exploded, setting off a fire and additional explosions.
In 1975, the House Internal Security Committee (formerly the House Un-American Activities Committee) was disbanded.
Thought for Today: “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” – John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (1806-1873).
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Wednesday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2016. There are 353 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 13, 1966, Robert C. Weaver was nominated to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson; Weaver became the first black Cabinet member.
On this date:
In 1733, James Oglethorpe and some 120 English colonists arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, while en route to settle in present-day Georgia.
In 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union. (The number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.)
In 1864, American songwriter Stephen Foster died in poverty in a New York hospital at age 37.
In 1898, Emile Zola’s famous defense of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, “J’accuse,” (zhah-KOOZ’) was published in Paris.
In 1915, a magnitude-7 earthquake centered in Avezzano, Italy, claimed some 30,000 lives.
In 1941, a new law went into effect granting Puerto Ricans U.S. birthright citizenship. Novelist and poet James Joyce died in Zurich, Switzerland, less than a month before his 59th birthday.
In 1962, comedian Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash in west Los Angeles 10 days before his 43rd birthday.
In 1976, Sarah Caldwell became the first woman to conduct at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House as she led a performance of “La Traviata.”
In 1978, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minnesota, at age 66.
In 1982, an Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River while trying to take off during a snowstorm, killing a total of 78 people; four passengers and a flight attendant survived.
In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation’s first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.
In 2014, a shooting at a Wesley Chapel, Florida, movie theater left Chad Oulson, 43, dead; retired Tampa police captain Curtis Reeves, 71, is accused of killing Oulson during what authorities said was an argument over Oulson’s texting.
Thought for Today: “Never underestimate your power to change yourself; never overestimate your power to change others.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr., American writer.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2016. There are 354 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On Jan. 12, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. military should stay in Vietnam until Communist aggression there was stopped. The TV series “Batman,” inspired by the comic book and starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo, premiered on ABC, airing twice a week on consecutive nights.
On this date:
In 1773, the first public museum in America was organized in Charleston, South Carolina.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Monday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2016. There are 355 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 11, 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report which concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.”
On this date:
In 1861, Alabama became the fourth state to withdraw from the Union.
In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon National Monument (it became a national park in 1919).
In 1913, the first enclosed sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th National Automobile Show in New York.
In 1927, the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was proposed during a dinner of Hollywood luminaries at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, that made her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.
In 1942, Japan declared war against the Netherlands, the same day that Imperial Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.
In 1946, the People’s Republic of Albania was proclaimed after King Zog was formally deposed by the Communists.
In 1966, Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, 64, died in Chur.
In 1977, France set off an international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a PLO official behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
In 1989, nine days before leaving the White House, President Ronald Reagan bade the nation farewell in a prime-time address, saying of his eight years in office: “We meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world.”
In 1995, 51 people were killed when a Colombian DC-9 jetliner crashed as it was preparing to land near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena – however, 9-year-old Erika Delgado survived.
In 2010, Mark McGwire admitted to The Associated Press that he’d used steroids and human growth hormone when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.
Ten years ago: A Georgian court convicted Vladimir Arutyunian of trying to assassinate President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili (sah-kahsh-VIH’-leh) with a grenade in Tbilisi (tuh-BLEE’-see) on May 10, 2005, and sentenced him to life in prison. Gunmen stormed an offshore oil platform run by Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria and seized the workers, an American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran. (The four were freed nearly three weeks later.)
Five years ago: Several hundred mourners remembered the victims of the Arizona shooting rampage during a public Mass at St. Odilia Catholic Church in Tucson. David Nelson, 74, who co-starred on his parents’ popular TV show “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” died in Los Angeles.
One year ago: More than a million people surged through the boulevards of Paris behind dozens of world leaders walking arm-in-arm in a rally for unity against three days of terror that killed 17 people and changed France.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Saturday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2016. There are 357 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 9, 1916, the World War I Battle of Gallipoli ended after eight months with an Ottoman Empire victory as Allied forces withdrew.
On this date:
In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, New Jersey.
In 1861, Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union, the same day the Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements and supplies to Federal troops at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, retreated because of artillery fire. In 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, California.
In 1914, the County of Los Angeles opened the country’s first public defender’s office. The fraternity Phi Beta Sigma was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
In 1931, Bobbi Trout and Edna May Cooper broke an endurance record for female aviators as they returned to Mines Field in Los Angeles after flying a Curtiss Robin monoplane continuously for 122 hours and 50 minutes.
In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing on the shores of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines as the Battle of Luzon got underway, resulting in an Allied victory over Imperial Japanese forces.
In 1957, Anthony Eden resigned as British prime minister for health reasons; he was succeeded by Harold Macmillan.
In 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.
In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported autobiography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.
In 1987, the White House released a Jan. 1986 memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North showing a link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.
In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.
Ten years ago: Confirmation hearings opened in Washington for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. “The Phantom of the Opera” leapt past “Cats” to become the longest-running show in Broadway history
Thought for Today: “Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it.” – Swedish proverb.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Friday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2016. There are 358 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On Jan. 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined his Fourteen Points for lasting peace after World War I. Mississippi became the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which established Prohibition.
On this date:
In 1642, astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.
In 1790, President George Washington delivered his first State of the Union address to Congress in New York.
In 1815, the last major engagement of the War of 1812 came to an end as U.S. forces defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, not having gotten word of the signing of a peace treaty.
In 1863, America’s First Transcontinental Railroad had its beginnings as California Gov. Leland Stanford broke ground for the Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento. (The transcontinental railroad was completed in Promontory, Utah, in May 1869.)
In 1912, the African National Congress was founded in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
In 1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
In 1959, Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France’s Fifth Republic.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.”
In 1975, Judge John J. Sirica ordered the early release from prison of Watergate figures John W. Dean III, Herbert W. Kalmbach and Jeb Stuart Magruder. Democrat Ella Grasso was sworn in as Connecticut’s first female governor. Opera singer Richard Tucker, 61, died in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
In 1976, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, 77, died in Beijing.
In 1982, American Telephone and Telegraph settled the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.
In 1996, former French president Francois Mitterrand (frahn-SWAH’ mee-teh-RAHN’) died at age 79.
Ten years ago: The first funerals were held in West Virginia for the 12 miners who’d died in the Sago (SAY’-goh) Mine disaster six days earlier.
Five years ago: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot and critically wounded when a gunman opened fire as the congresswoman met with constituents in Tucson; six other people were killed, 12 others also injured. (Gunman Jared Lee Loughner (LAWF’-nur) was sentenced in Nov. 2012 to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years.) Both Super Bowl teams from 2010 lost on the first day of the NFL playoffs; the Seattle Seahawks stunned the defending champion New Orleans Saints 41-36 while the New York Jets ended the night with a last-second 17-16 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
One year ago: Three dissidents were abruptly released in what a leading human rights advocate said was part of Cuba’s deal with Washington to release 53 members of the island’s political opposition.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Thursday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2016. There are 359 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 7, 1789, America held its first presidential election as voters chose electors who, a month later, selected George Washington to be the nation’s first chief executive.
On this date:
In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei began observing three of Jupiter’s moons (he spotted a fourth moon almost a week later).
In 1800, the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, was born in Summerhill, New York.
In 1904, the Marconi International Marine Communication Company of London announced that the telegraphed letters “CQD” would serve as a maritime distress call (it was later replaced with “SOS”).
In 1927, commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.
In 1942, the Japanese siege of Bataan began during World War II.
In 1949, George C. Marshall resigned as U.S. Secretary of State; President Harry S. Truman chose Dean Acheson to succeed him.
In 1955, singer Marian Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” The opening of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa was televised for the first time.
In 1959, the United States recognized the new government of Cuba, six days after Fidel Castro led the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
In 1963, the U.S. Post Office raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 4 to 5 cents.
In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.
In 1989, Emperor Hirohito of Japan died in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.
In 1999, for the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate. President Bill Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted.
Ten years ago: Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped and her translator shot dead in one of Baghdad’s most dangerous Sunni Arab neighborhoods. (Carroll was freed almost three months later.) A Black Hawk helicopter carrying eight U.S. troops and four American civilians crashed near the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, killing all aboard. U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, facing corruption charges, stepped down as House majority leader. (DeLay was found guilty in Nov. 2010 of illegally funneling corporate money to Texas candidates; his conviction was eventually overturned.)
Five years ago: A package addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited at a Washington postal facility, a day after fiery packages sent to Maryland’s governor and state transportation secretary burned the fingers of workers who opened them.
Thought for Today: “One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.” – Golda Meir, Israeli prime minister (1898-1978).
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Wednesday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2016. There are 360 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of “Four Freedoms”: Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.
On this date:
In 1540, England’s King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. (The marriage lasted about six months.)
In 1759, George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married in New Kent County, Virginia.
In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph in Morristown, New Jersey.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.
In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.
In 1945, George Herbert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, New York.
In 1950, Britain recognized the Communist government of China.
In 1963, “Oliver!” Lionel Bart’s musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel “Oliver Twist,” opened on Broadway. “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” premiered on NBC-TV.
In 1974, year-round daylight saving time began in the United States on a trial basis as a fuel-saving measure in response to the OPEC oil embargo.
In 1987, the U.S. Senate voted 88-4 to establish an 11-member panel to hold public hearings on the Iran-Contra affair.
In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroit’s Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding denied knowing about plans for the attack.)
In 2001, with Vice President Al Gore presiding (in his capacity as president of the Senate), Congress formally certified George W. Bush the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.
Ten years ago: Al-Qaida’s No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahri (AY’-muhn ahl-ZWAH’-ree), said in a videotape that a recent U.S. decision to withdraw some troops from Iraq represented “the victory of Islam.”
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2016. There are 361 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 5, 1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England since 1042, died after a reign of nearly 24 years.
On this date:
In 1781, a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia.
In 1895, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. (He was ultimately vindicated.)
In 1905, the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals was incorporated in New York State.
In 1914, auto industrialist Henry Ford announced he was going to pay workers $5 for an 8-hour day, as opposed to $2.34 for a 9-hour day. (Employees still worked six days a week; the 5-day work week was instituted in 1926.)
In 1925, Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming took office as America’s first female governor, succeeding her late husband, William, following a special election.
In 1933, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Massachusetts, at age 60. Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Work was completed four years later.)
In 1949, in his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his administration the Fair Deal.
In 1953, the Samuel Beckett play “Waiting for Godot” premiered in Paris.
In 1964, during a visit to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople in Jerusalem.
In 1970, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pennsylvania, home. (UMWA President Tony Boyle and seven others were convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, the killings.) “All My Children” premiered on ABC-TV.
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Monday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2016. There are 362 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 4, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.
On this date:
In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
In 1904, the Supreme Court, in Gonzalez v. Williams, ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the United States freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens. (Puerto Ricans received U.S. citizenship in 1917.)
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the handicapped.
In 1943, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin made the cover of TIME as the magazine’s 1942 “Man of the Year.” In 1951, during the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces recaptured the city of Seoul (sohl).
In 1960, author and philosopher Albert Camus (al-BEHR’ kah-MOO’) died in an automobile accident in Villeblevin, France, at age 46.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his State of the Union address in which he outlined the goals of his “Great Society.”
In 1974, President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
In 1987, 16 people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
In 1990, Charles Stuart, who claimed that he’d been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Massachusetts bridge after he himself came under suspicion.
In 1995, the 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era. In 2007, Nancy Pelosi was elected the first female speaker of the House as Democrats took control of Congress.
Ten years ago: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a significant stroke; his official powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert (EH’-hood OHL’-murt). (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in Jan. 2014.) In a triple-overtime game that began Jan. 3 and finished after midnight, No. 3. Penn State beat No. 22 Florida State, 26-23, in the Orange Bowl. No. 2 Texas won college football’s championship, beating No. 1 Southern California 41-38 in the Rose Bowl.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama signed a $1.4 billion overhaul of the nation’s food safety system. The Navy fired the commander of the USS Enterprise, Capt. Owen Honors, more than three years after he’d made lewd videos to boost morale for his crew. (Honors was later reprimanded but allowed to remain in the Navy; he retired in 2012.) The Mega Millions lottery drew two winning tickets for a jackpot totaling $380 million. (In a strange coincidence, four of the six winning numbers matched those used by a lottery-winning character on the TV show “Lost.”)
One year ago: Pope Francis named 156 new cardinals, selecting them from 14 countries, including far-flung corners of the world, to reflect the diversity of the Roman Catholic church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa.
Thought for Today: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” – T.S. Eliot, American-born English poet (born in 1888, died this date in 1965).
Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today in History
Today is Saturday, Jan. 2, the second day of 2016. There are 364 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 2, 1900, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the “Open Door Policy” to facilitate trade with China.
On this date:
In 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1893, the U.S. Postal Service issued its first commemorative stamp to honor the World’s Columbian Expedition and the quadricentennial of Christopher Columbus’ voyage.
In 1921, religious services were broadcast on radio for the first time as KDKA in Pittsburgh aired the regular Sunday service of the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church.
In 1935, Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, New Jersey, on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was found guilty, and executed.)
In 1942, the Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.
In 1955, the president of Panama, Jose Antonio Remon Cantera, was assassinated.
In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launched his successful bid for the presidency.
In 1971, 66 people were killed in a pileup of spectators leaving a soccer match at Ibrox (EYE’-brox) Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1974, President Richard Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 miles an hour as a way of conserving gasoline in the face of an OPEC oil embargo. (The 55 mph limit was effectively phased out in 1987; federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.) “Singing cowboy” star Tex Ritter died in Nashville at age 68.
In 1981, police in Sheffield, England, arrested Peter Sutcliffe, who confessed to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” the serial killer of 13 women. In 1991, Sharon Pratt was sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first black woman to head a city of Washington’s size and prominence.