TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, JAN. 11, the 11th day of 2018. There are 354 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report that concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.” In 1861, Alabama became the fourth state to withdraw from the Union. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon National Monument (it became a national park in 1919). In 1913, the first enclosed sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th National Automobile Show in New York. In 1927, the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was proposed during a dinner of Hollywood luminaries at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., that made her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.
In 1977, France set off an international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a PLO official behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
In 1978, two Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule linked up with the Salyut 6 orbiting space station, where the Soyuz 26 capsule was already docked.
In 1989, nine days before leaving the White House, President Ronald Reagan bade the nation farewell in a prime-time address, saying of his eight years in office: “We meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world.”
In 1995, 51 people were killed when a Colombian DC-9 jetliner crashed as it was preparing to land near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena — however, 9-yearold Erika Delgado survived.
In 2003, calling the death penalty process “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral,” Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state’s death row two days before leaving office.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and actor Mitchell Ryan are 84. Actor Felix Silla is 81. Movie director Joel Zwick is 76. Country singer Naomi Judd is 72. World Golf Hall-of-Famer Ben Crenshaw is 66. Singer Mary J. Blige and musician Tom Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers) are 47. Actor Marc Blucas and actress Amanda Peet are 46. Actor Rockmond Dunbar is 45. Actresses Aja Naomi King and Kristolyn Lloyd are 33. Reality TV star Jason Wahler is 31. Pop singer Cody Simpson is 21.