On Jan. 6, 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.
On this date:
In 1412, according to tradition, Joan of Arc was born in Domremy, France.
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, Va.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.
In 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.
In 1942, the Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York more than a month after leaving California and following a westward route, the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.
In 1945, George Herbert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce in Rye, N.Y.
In 1950, Britain recognized the Communist government of China.
In 1967, U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Deckhouse Five, an offensive in the Mekong River delta.
In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the "Freeway Killer" slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)
In 1993, it was announced that Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito would marry a 29-year-old Foreign Ministry official, a commoner.
In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant in Detroit. Four men, including Jeff Gillooly, the ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison for their roles in the attack; Harding, who denied advance knowledge of the attack, received probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution.
In 1999, an agreement ended the six-month player lockout by owners of National Basketball Association teams. The labor dispute had threatened to wipe out the 1998-99 season. The 106th Congress convened with Dennis Hastert taking over as the new House speaker. Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, would marry his longtime girlfriend, public relations executive Sophie Rhys-Jones, later in the year.
In 2000, in Miami, demonstrators angered by the U.S. government's decision to send Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba skirmished with police. Republican presidential candidates debated in Durham, N.H. with such issues as taxes and gays in the military dominating the discussion.
In 2001, with the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress certified Republican George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.
In 2004, Mijailo Mijailovic confessed to the fatal stabbing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in September 2003. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted mistakes were made in the war on terror but he said actions were taken for the right reasons -- to ensure the spread of freedom and democracy. Also in 2004, a London newspaper said Princess Diana claimed in a letter written 10 months before her 1997 death that Prince Charles was plotting to kill her. Thirteen children and two adults were killed in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province by a time-bomb concealed in an apple cart on a street regularly used by U.S. military patrols. A design consisting of two reflecting pools and a paved stone field was chosen for the World Trade Center memorial in New York. Hitting star Paul Molitor and reliever Dennis Eckersley were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.
In 2005, Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzales, under scorching criticism at his confirmation hearing, condemned torture as an interrogation tactic and promised to prosecute abusers of terror suspects. Congress certified President George W. Bush's re-election. Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi.
In 2006, rescuers worked through the night in an effort to reach Muslim pilgrims trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. At least 53 people were killed.
In 2007, Iraqi military officials said at least 30 people died in a fight between soldiers and Sunni insurgents at a fake military checkpoint in Baghdad. Also in 2007, Somalis raged through the streets of Mogadishu throwing rocks at the Ethiopian troops who drove Islamist forces out of the capital.
In 2008, Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili won re-election with 52 percent of the vote in early balloting to calm massive protests. Demonstrators had accused him of abusing power and stifling dissent. In a video posted on the Internet, Al-Qaida's American spokesman, Adam Gadahn, urged fighters to meet President Bush with bombs during his upcoming Mideast visit.
In 2009, Congress opened for business at the dawn of a new Democratic era with vows to fix the crisis-ridden economy; Republicans pledged cooperation in Congress as well as with President-elect Barack Obama — to a point. Obama vowed to "bring a long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington" and called the need for budget reform "an absolute necessity." Also in 2009, one of the most controversial attacks in Israel's assault on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip involved Israeli shelling near a U.N.-run school at a refugee camp, killing a reported 35 people.
Today's Birthdays: Pollster Louis Harris is 89. Bluegrass performer Earl Scruggs is 86. Retired MLB All-Star Ralph Branca is 84. Author E.L. Doctorow is 79. Actress Bonnie Franklin is 66. Musician Joey, the CowPolka King (Riders in the Sky) is 61. Former FBI director Louis Freeh is 60. Rock singer-musician Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) is 59. Singer Jett Williams is 57. Rock musician Malcolm Young (AC-DC) is 57. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson is 55. Golfer Nancy Lopez is 53. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kathy Sledge is 51. TV chef Nigella Lawson is 50. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eric Williams (BLACKstreet) is 50. Movie composer A.R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire") is 44. Movie director John Singleton is 42. TV personality Julie Chen is 40. Actor Danny Pintauro ("Who's the Boss?") is 34. Actress Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel") is 29. NBA player Gilbert Arenas is 28. Rock singer Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) is 24.
Those born on this date include: Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the ruins of ancient Troy, (1822); poet Carl Sandburg (1878); silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix (1880); former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Sam Rayburn, D-Texas (1882); actors Loretta Young (1913) and Danny Thomas (1914) & auto executive John DeLorean (1925).
Today In Entertainment History January 6
In 1957, Elvis Presley made his last appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show." He was on screen for more than 20 minutes, singing "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel," among other songs.
In 1963, "Wild Kingdom" premiered on NBC.
In 1964, The Rolling Stones began their first British tour as a headliner. The Ronettes were the opening act.
In 1977, EMI canceled its contract with the Sex Pistols, only three months after signing the band.
In 1980, Georgeanna Tillman Gordon of The Marvelettes died in Detroit after a long illness. She was 46.
In 1993, jazz great Dizzy Gillespie died of pancreatic cancer in Englewood, N.J. He was 75. The entertainment world also lost dancer Rudolph Nureyez, who was 54. Also in 1993, bassist Bill Wyman confirmed he was quitting the Rolling Stones. He told a TV interviewer in England that he wanted to pursue other music and business projects.
In 2005, singer Lou Rawls died in Los Angeles after fighting lung and brain cancer. He was 72. Also in 2005, singer Pink married motocross racer Carey Hart in Costa Rica. They have since separated.
In 2009, Cheryl Holdridge, one of the Mouseketeers on "The Mickey Mouse Club," died in Santa Monica, Calif. at age 64.
Thought for Today: "Very few men are wise by their own counsel; or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught by himself, had a fool to his master." — Ben Jonson, English dramatist and poet (1572-1637).
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