In 1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss.
In 1642, Astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.
In 1790, U.S. President George Washington gave the first State of the Union address.
In 1798, the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect by President John Adams nearly three years after its ratification by the states; it prohibited a citizen of one state from suing another state in federal court.
In 1815, U.S. forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, the closing engagement of the War of 1812. [C'mon, you could mention that it occurred two wks. after the peace treaty was signed. War-mongers. — Ed.]
In 1867, the U.S. Congress approved legislation that, for the first time, allowed blacks to vote in the District of Columbia.
In 1916, Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire that resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties.
In 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.
In 1959, Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France's Fifth Republic. In Cuba, Fidel Castro and his army arrived in Havana in triumph following the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" in his State of the Union address.
In 1973, the Paris peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam resumed.
In 1976, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai died in Beijing.
In 1982, AT&T settled the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.
In 1987, for the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25. Kay Orr was inaugurated in Lincoln, Neb., as the nation's first female Republican governor.
In 1989, 47 people were killed when a British Midland Boeing 737-400 carrying 126 people crashed in central England.
In 1996, former French president Francois Mitterrand died at age 79.
In 1997, a report by University of Texas scientists concluded that exposure to a combination of chemicals was linked to Gulf War Syndrome, responsible for the various ailments reported by veterans of the 1991 conflict.
In 1998, Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was sentenced in New York to life in prison.
In 1999, by a unanimous vote, senators formally ratified the rules for President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. The top two executives of Salt Lake City's Olympic organizing committee resigned amid disclosures that civic boosters had given cash to members of the International Olympic Committee.
In 2000, during a debate in Johnston, Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley accused Al Gore of trying to scare voters by misrepresenting his health care proposal; for his part, the vice president said he had not been hiding in a Washington bunker but campaigning on "the front lines in the fight for our future."
In 2003, a US Airways Express commuter plane crashed at the Charlotte, N.C., airport, killing all 21 people on board. A Turkish Airlines jet crashed in Turkey, killing 75 people.
In 2004, a U.S. Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, Iraq, killing all nine soldiers aboard. Libya agreed to compensate family members of victims of a 1989 bombing of a French passenger plane over the Niger desert that killed 170 people.
In 2005, an Army platoon sergeant who'd ordered his soldiers to throw Iraqis into the Tigris River was sentenced to six months in jail; the jury in Fort Hood, Texas also reduced the rank of Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins by one grade.
In 2007, a Moroccan man convicted of aiding three of the four pilots who committed the 9/11 attacks was sentenced by a German court to the maximum of 15 years in prison for his role in the terror plot.
In 2008, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican John McCain won the New Hampshire primaries. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, the only officer charged in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing. A quick-thinking Boy Scout foiled an assassination attempt on the president of the Maldives, grabbing an attacker's knife as the man leapt from a crowd. Paintings by Pablo Picasso and Brazilian painter Candido Portinari, stolen from Brazil's Sao Paulo Museum in December 2007, were recovered.
In 2009, President-elect Barack Obama urged lawmakers to work with him "day and night, on weekends if necessary" to approve the largest taxpayer-funded stimulus ever. Obama named Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine the next Democratic National Committee chairman. The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. No. 1 Florida beat No. 2 Oklahoma 24-14 for the BCS national title. Cornelia Wallace, former wife of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, died in Sebring, Fla. at age 69.
Today's Birthdays January 8: Actor-comedian Larry Storch is 87. Actor Ron Moody is 86. Broadcast journalist Sander Vanocur is 82. CBS newsman Charles Osgood is 77. Singer Shirley Bassey is 73. Game show host Bob Eubanks is 72. Country-gospel singer Cristy Lane is 70. Rhythm-and-blues singer Anthony Gourdine (Little Anthony and the Imperials) is 69. Actress Yvette Mimieux is 68. Physicist Stephen Hawking is 68. Rock musician Robby Krieger (The Doors) is 64. Rock singer David Bowie is 63. Movie director John McTiernan is 59. Actress Harriet Sansom Harris is 55. Singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith is 46.
Actress Maria Pitillo is 45. Actress Michelle Forbes is 45. Singer R. Kelly is 43. Rock musician Jeff Abercrombie (Fuel) is 41. Actress Ami Dolenz is 41. Reggae singer Sean Paul is 37. Country singer Tift Merritt is 35. Actress-rock singer Jenny Lewis is 34. Actress Amber Benson is 33. Actor Scott Whyte is 32. Singer-songwriter Erin McCarley is 31. Actress Sarah Polley is 31. Actress Rachel Nichols is 30.
Those born on this date include: financier Nicholas Biddle (1786); educator and hymn writer Lowell Mason ("Nearer My God To Thee") (1792); James Longstreet, Confederate general in the Civil War (1821); publisher Frank Doubleday (1862); reading teacher Evelyn Wood (1909); actor Jose Ferrer (1912); comedian Soupy Sales (1926).
On This Date In The History Of Show Biz:
In 1966, the last episode of ABC's "Shindig" music show was broadcast. The Kinks and The Who were the guest performers.
In 1974, Kiss signed its first recording contract, with Casablanca Records.
In 1979, the Canadian government named Rush its official "Ambassadors of Music." [Gawd!! Anne Murray would've been a better choice. — Ed.]
In 1989, the musical "42nd Street" closed on Broadway after more than 3,400 performances.
In 1990, a Los Angeles judge ruled that columnist Art Buchwald came up with the idea that inspired the Eddie Murphy movie "Coming To America." Buchwald had sued Paramount Pictures, claiming the studio stole the idea.
In 1991, guitarist Steve Clark of Def Leppard was found dead in his London home. He was 30. A coroner ruled that Clark's death was the result of heavy drinking.
In 1993, at a minute after midnight, the Elvis Presley commemorative stamp went on sale at his Graceland mansion in Memphis. People in the rest of the country got to buy them at post offices starting at noon.
In 1996, Robert Dewey Hoskins was found guilty of stalking Madonna.
In 2005, Motley Crue singer Vince Neil married Lia Gerardini in Las Vegas. It was his fourth marriage, her second.
Thought for Today: "In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism." — Hannah Arendt, American author and historian (1906-1975).
Thought for Today: "The devil is easy to identify. He appears when you're terribly tired and makes a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant." — Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City (1882-1947).
No comments:
Post a Comment