TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4, the fourth day of 2017. There are 361 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1967, “The Doors,” the self-titled debut album by the rock group, featuring the song “Light My Fire,” was released by Elektra Records.
In 1717, France, Britain and Holland formed a Triple Alliance against Spain.
In 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.
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 March 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.
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 1995, the 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Barbara Rush is 90. Football Hall of Fame coach Don Shula is 87. Opera singer Grace Bumbry is 80. Country singer Kathy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 62. Rock musician Bernard Sumner (New Order, Joy Division) is 61. Country singer Patty Loveless is 60. Actor Julian Sands is 59. Rock singer Michael Stipe is 57. Actor Patrick Cassidy is 55. Actor Dave Foley is 54. Actor Rick Hearst, singer-musician Cait O’Riordan, actress Julia Ormond and tennis player Guy Forget are 52. Country singer Deana Carter is 51. Rock musician Benjamin Darvill (Crash Test Dummies) is 50. Actor Josh Stamberg is 47. Actor Damon Gupton is 44. Actress-singer Jill Marie Jones is 42. Christian rock singer Spencer Chamberlain (Underoath) is 34. Actress Lenora Crichlow is 32. Comedianactress Charlyne Yi is 31. Actresssinger Coco Jones is 19.