TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, JAN. 17, the 17th day of 2021. There are 348 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1996, Sheik Omar AbdelRahman and nine followers were handed long prison sentences for plotting to blow up New York-area landmarks.
In 1806, Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha, gave birth to James Madison Randolph, the first child born in the White House.
In 1916, the Professional Golfers’ Association of America had its beginnings as department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker hosted a luncheon of pro and amateur golfers in New York City. (The PGA of America was formally established on April 10, 1916.)
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces launched the first of four battles for Monte Cassino in Italy; the Allies were ultimately successful.
In 1953, a prototype of the Chevrolet Corvette was unveiled during the General Motors Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
In 1955, the submarine USS Nautilus made its first nuclear-powered test run from its berth in Groton, Connecticut.
In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address in which he warned against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., ruled 5-4 that the use of home video cassette recorders to tape television programs for private viewing did not violate federal copyright laws.
In 1994, the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.
In 1997, a court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country’s history.
In 2008, Bobby Fischer, the chess grandmaster who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, died in Reykjavik, Iceland, at age 64.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Betty White is 99. Actor James Earl Jones is
90. Talk show host Maury Povich is 82. Pop singer Chris Montez is 79. R&B singer William Hart (The Delfonics) is
76. Singer Steve Earle is 66. Singer Paul Young is 65. Actor-comedian Steve Harvey is 64. Singer Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) is 62. Movie directorscreenwriter Brian Helgeland is 60. Actor-comedian Jim Carrey and actor Denis O’Hare are 59. Former first lady Michelle Obama is 57. Actor Naveen Andrews and electronic music DJ Tiesto are 52. Actor-writer Leigh Whannel is
44. Actor-singer Zooey Deschanel is 41. Country singer Amanda Wilkinson and former NBA player Dwyane Wade are
39. Folk-rock musician Jeremiah Fraites is 35. Actor Jonathan Keltz is 33. Actor Kelly Marie Tran (Film: “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) is 32. Actor Kathrine Herzer is 24.