TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Monday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2021. There are 361 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Jan. 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his State of the Union address in which he outlined the goals of his “Great Society.”
1821 — The first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
1904 — The US 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 citizens. (Puerto Ricans received US citizenship in March 1917.)
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.
1944 — Ralph Bunche became the first African-American officer at the State Department as he was appointed to a post in the Near East and African Section.
1964 — Pope Paul VI began a visit to the Holy Land, the first papal pilgrimage of its kind
1974 — President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1987 — Sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
1999 — Europe’s new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets. Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura took the oath of office as Minnesota’s governor.
2002 — Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, a US Army Special Forces soldier, was killed by small-arms fire during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan; he was the first American military death from enemy fire in the war against terrorism.
2006 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a significant stroke; his official powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert. (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in January 2014.)
2007 — Nancy Pelosi was elected the first female speaker of the House as Democrats took control of Congress.
2010 — Dubai opened the world’s tallest skyscraper, and in a surprise move renamed the 2,717-foot gleaming glassand-metal tower Burj Khalifa in a nod to the leader of neighboring Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich sheikdom that had come to its financial rescue.
Ten years ago — President Barack Obama signed a $1.4 billion overhaul of the nation’s food safety system.
Five years ago — Workers returned to their offices at the San Bernardino campus where 14 people were killed the previous month in a terror attack carried out by a county restaurant inspector and his wife.
One year ago — Thousands of militiamen and other supporters marched across Iraq’s capital in a funeral procession for Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Barbara Rush is 94. Opera singer Grace Bumbry is
84. Actor Dyan Cannon is 82. Author-historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is 78. Country singer Kathy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 66. Actor Ann Magnuson is 65. Rock musician Bernard Sumner (New Order,
Joy Division) is 65. Country$ singer Patty Loveless is 64.Coronavirus Actor Julian Sands is 63. RockEconomic singer Michael Stipe is 61. Actor Patrick Cassidy is 59. Actor Dave Foley is 58. Actor Dot Jones is 57. Actor Rick Hearst is 56. Singer-musician CaitGeneral O’Riordan is 56. Actor Julia Ormond is 56. Former tennisfirst player Guy Forget is 56. Coun-million try singer Deana Carter is 55.
Rock musician Benjamin Dar-General vill (Crash Test Dummies) is$
54. Actor Josh Stamberg is 51.down Actor Damon Gupton is 48. Actor-singer Jill Marie Jones is
46. Actor D’Arcy Carden is 41.expenses Christian rock singer Spenceradopted Chamberlain (Underoath) is$
38. Actor Lenora Crichlow isvacancies.
36. Comedian-actor Charlyne
Yi is 35. MLB All-Star Krispupil Bryant is 29. Actor-singermore Coco Jones is 23. district, said the