On Jan. 12, 1910, at a White House dinner hosted by President William Howard Taft, Baroness Rosen, the wife of the Russian ambassador, caused a stir by requesting and smoking a cigarette - it was, apparently, the first time a woman had smoked openly during a public function in the executive mansion. (Some of the other women present who had brought their own cigarettes began lighting up in turn.)
On this date:
In 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died.
In 1773, the first public museum in America was organized, in Charleston, S.C.
In 1828, boundary disputes were settled between the United States and Mexico.
In 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected, 204-174, a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.
In 1932, after serving the remainder of the term of her late husband, Thaddeus, Hattie W. Caraway, a Democrat from Arkansas, became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. (She had been appointed two months earlier to fill the vacancy caused by her husband's death.)
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt re-established the National War Labor Board.
In 1943, the U.S. wartime Office of Price Administration said standard frankfurters would be replaced during World War II by "Victory Sausages" consisting of a mixture of meat and soy meal.
In 1945, Soviet forces began a huge offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.
In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended.
In 1969, the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
In 1976, the U.N. Security Council voted 11-1 to seat the Palestine Liberation Organization for its debate on the Middle East. The United States cast the only dissenting vote. Mystery writer Agatha Christie died in Wallingford, England, at 85.
In 1986, the shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, & U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
In 1991, a deeply divided Congress gave President George H.W. Bush the authority to use force to expel Iraq from Kuwait. (The Senate vote was 52-47; the House followed suit 250-183.)
In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Whitewater land deal affair that involved him and the first lady.
In 1995, U.S. President Bill Clinton and congressional leaders agreed on a bailout package that would give Mexico as much as $40 billion in loan guarantees. After Congress failed to vote quickly on the deal, Clinton invoked emergency authority to lend Mexico $20 billion.
In 1998, Linda Tripp provided Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office with taped conversations between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Nineteen European nations signed a treaty in Paris opposing human cloning.
In 1999, the baseball that Mark McGwire hit for his record-setting 70th home run of the 1998 season was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder. The Supreme Court limited state regulation of voter initiatives, striking down several methods used by Colorado to police such measures.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer. Forced to act by a European court ruling, Britain lifted its ban on gays in the military. Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills was killed in an automobile crash.
In 2001, scientists in Oregon announced the birth of the first genetically engineered primate. The rhesus monkey had a jellyfish gene that caused jellyfish to glow; however, the monkey did not glow.
In 2004, President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox forged agreement on the contentious issues of immigration and Iraq, meeting in Monterrey before the opening of a 34-nation hemispheric summit. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, in a harshly critical new book, likened U.S. President George Bush in a Cabinet meeting to a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people."
In 2005, a NASA spacecraft, Deep Impact, blasted off on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. (The probe smashed into Comet Tempel 1 in July 2005.) Democrat Christine Gregoire, winner of the extremely close Washington governor's race, was inaugurated. Britain's Prince Harry apologized after a newspaper published a photograph of the young royal wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party. The Southern California death toll from rain, flood and mudslides rose to 19. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that an alien can be deported to a country without the advance consent of that country's government.
In 2006, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who'd shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from an Istanbul prison after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist. A stampede broke out during the Islamic hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, killing 363 people.
In 2008, President George W. Bush, visiting Bahrain, said he was cheered by news that Iraq's parliament had approved legislation reinstating thousands of former supporters of Saddam Hussein's dissolved Baath party to government jobs.
In 2009, Senate Democrats announced they would accept former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris as President-elect Barack Obama's Senate successor. Acting at Obama's behest, President George W. Bush agreed to ask Congress for the final $350 billion in the financial bailout fund. In the final news conference of his presidency, Bush vigorously defended his record but also offered an extraordinary listing of his mistakes - including his optimistic Iraq speech in 2003. Rickey Henderson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and Jim Rice made it in on his 15th and final try.
Today's Birthdays: Actress Luise Rainer is 100.
Those Born on This Date Include: French fairy tale writer Charles Perrault, author of the Mother Goose stories (1628); British statesman Edmund Burke (1729); American patriot John Hancock (1737); painter John Singer Sargent (1856); novelist Jack London (1876); Nazi leader Hermann Goering (1893); western singer/actor Tex Ritter (1905).
Today In Entertainment History January 12
In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit.
In 1963, Bob Dylan performed in a radio play for the BBC in London. The play was called "The Madhouse of Castle Street" and he played a folk singer.
In 1965, the rock and roll TV series "Hullabaloo" premiered on NBC. Featured acts included the New Christy Minstrels and comedian Woody Allen. [That's Rock & Roll! — Ed.]
In 1966, "Batman" premiered on ABC, starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
In 1969, Led Zeppelin's self-titled first album was released.
In 1971, the TV situation comedy "All in the Family" premiered on CBS.
In 1991, country singer Johnny Paycheck was released from an Ohio prison after serving two years of a seven-year sentence for shooting a man in a barroom. Ohio Governor Richard Celeste commuted Paycheck's sentence.
In 1993, the original members of Cream reunited to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles. The band members were inducted, along with Ruth Brown, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Etta James, Van Morrison, Sly and the Family Stone and Dinah Washington.
In 1995, members of Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers Band, along with Martha and the Vandellas, Neil Young and Al Green were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa were also honored. [Yeah, better late than never, right assholes? — Ed.]
In 2000, Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne's wife, announced she was quitting as manager of Smashing Pumpkins. She issued a statement saying she had to resign "due to medical reasons -- Billy Corgan was making me sick!"
In 2003, Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees died after having surgery for an intestinal blockage at a hospital in Miami. He was 53.
In 2009, French movie actor-writer-director Claude Berri died in Paris at age 74.
Thought for Today: "Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable." - Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian spiritual leader (1869-1948).
1 comment:
My centenary tribute, 'Hollywood on Thames; Luise Rainer, 100', is at http://katewebb.wordpress.com/
Cheers, Kate
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