Four hundred years ago, on Jan. 7, 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei began observing three of Jupiter's moons, which he initially took to be stars; he spotted a fourth moon almost a week later. (Another astronomer, Simon Marius, who claimed to have spotted the moons before Galileo did, later named the Jovian satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.)
On this date:
In 1608, an accidental fire devastated the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony.
In 1789, the first U.S. presidential election was held. Americans voted for electors who, a month later, chose George Washington to be the nation's first president.
In 1927, commercial trans-Atlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.
In 1942, the Japanese siege of Bataan began.
In 1949, George C. Marshall resigned as U.S. Secretary of State; President Harry S. Truman chose Dean Acheson to succeed him.
In 1953, President Harry S. Truman announced in his State of the Union address that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.
In 1959, the United States recognized the new government of Cuba, six days after Fidel Castro led the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
In 1972, Lewis F. Powell Jr. and William H. Rehnquist were sworn in as the 99th and 100th members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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 1991, loyalist troops attacked Haiti's presidential palace, rescuing President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and capturing the coup plotters.
In 1996, a major blizzard paralyzed the eastern United States, claiming more than 100 lives.
In 1997, Newt Gingrich became the first Republican re-elected House speaker in 68 years, and was then reprimanded for violating House rules and misleading the House ethics committee in its inquiry into possible political use of tax-exempt donations.
In 1998, a federal jury in Denver was unable to agree on a penalty for Terry Nichols, convicted in December 1997 in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. That meant he would not face the death penalty.
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.
In 2000, U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., subpoenaed Elian Gonzalez to testify before Congress in a bid to keep Elian in the United States for at least another month while courts decided whether the 6-year-old should be returned to Cuba. (Elian never testified.)
In 2003, police announced they had found traces of the deadly poison ricin in a north London apartment and arrested six men.
In 2004, President George W. Bush proposed legal status, at least temporarily, for millions of illegal immigrants working in the U.S. Swedish actress Ingrid Thulin died in Stockholm at age 77.
In 2005, a military jury at Fort Hood, Texas, acquitted Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins of involuntary manslaughter in the alleged drowning of an Iraqi civilian, but convicted him of assault in the January 2004 incident. (Perkins was sentenced to six months in prison.) Rosemary Kennedy, the oldest sister of President John F. Kennedy and the inspiration for the Special Olympics, died at a Fort Atkinson, Wis. hospital at age 86.
In 2006, American journalist Jill Carroll was abducted in Iraq and a translator was killed. (Carroll was released unharmed after 82 days.) Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, facing corruption charges, stepped down as House majority leader. (He resigned from Congress in June 2006.)
In 2008, the Pentagon reported an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters, then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire. In Baghdad, the head of a key U.S.-backed Sunni group was killed in a double suicide bombing that claimed at least 11 other lives. Second-ranked LSU defeated No. 1 Ohio State, 38-24, in the BCS championship game played in New Orleans. Former major league pitcher Roger Clemens filed a lawsuit in Houston charging that his former trainer defamed him with allegations of steroid use. Philip Agee, a renegade CIA agent whose naming of operatives led to a law against exposing spies, died in Cuba at age 72.
In 2009, President-elect Barack Obama met at the White House with America's four living presidents: George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Russia shut off all its gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine in a price and payment dispute; the cutoff lasted nearly two weeks.
Today's Birthdays: Author William Peter Blatty is 82. Country singer Jack Greene is 80. Pop musician Paul Revere is 72. Magazine publisher Jann Wenner is 64. Singer Kenny Loggins is 62. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 61. Latin pop singer Juan Gabriel is 60. Actress Erin Gray is 60. Actor Sammo Hung is 58. Actor David Caruso is 54. "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric is 53. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 51. Rock musician Kathy Valentine (The Go-Go's) is 51. Actor David Marciano is 50. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is 49. Actress Hallie Todd is 48. Actor Nicolas Cage is 46. Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting) is 45. Actor Doug E. Doug is 40. Actor Kevin Rahm is 39. Actor Jeremy Renner is 39. Country singer-musician John Rich is 36. Actor Dustin Diamond is 33.
Those born on this date include: Frenchman Jacques Montgolfier, who, with his brother, invented the hot air balloon (1745); Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States (1800); Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, who became St. Bernadette and whose visions led to the foundation of the shrine at Lourdes, France (1844); film executive Adolph Zukor (1873); ghoulish cartoonist Charles Addams (1912); actor Vincent Gardenia (1922).
Today In Entertainment History January 7
In 1950, country performer Hank Snow made his Grand Ole Opry debut.
In 1954, Muddy Waters recorded "Hoochie Coochie Man" in Chicago.
In 1955, singer Marian Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, becoming the first black person to perform there as a member.
In 1963, singer Gary "U.S." Bonds sued Chubby Checker for $100,000, claiming that Checker plagiarized his hit "Quarter To Three" for Checker's song "Dancin' Party." The suit was settled out of court.
In 1970, neighbors of New York land owner Max Yasgur sued him for $35,000 for property damage caused by people who attended the Woodstock festival. It's estimated more than 450,000 people attended the three-day event.
In 1974, James Taylor and Carly Simon had their second child, Sarah Martin, in New York.
In 1992, singer Debbie Gibson made her Broadway debut in "Les Miserables". She played the part of Eponine.
In 1994, Nirvana played their last US show, at the Seattle Arena.
In 1997, Lionel Hampton's New York apartment caught fire and burned nearly everything he owned. Hampton escaped the fire unhurt.
In 2004, Swedish actress Ingrid Thulin died in Stockholm at age 77.
In 2005, actor Brad Pitt and actress Jennifer Aniston announced they were separating after four years of marriage.
Thought for Today: "There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness." — John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish author (1875-1940).
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