TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, JAN. 5, the fifth day of 2017. There are 360 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist communist aggression in what became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

In 1781, a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Va.

In 1895, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. (He was ultimately vindicated.)

In 1905, the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals was incorporated in New York state.

In 1925, Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming took office as America’s first female governor, succeeding her late husband, William, after a special election.

In 1933, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60. Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Work was completed four years later.)

In 1949, in his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his administration the Fair

Deal. In 1953, the Samuel Beckett play “Waiting for Godot” premiered in Paris.

In 1964, during a visit to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople in Jerusalem.

In 1970, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pa., home. (UMWA President Tony Boyle and seven others were convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, the killings.) “All My Children” premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced that he had ordered development of the space shuttle.