DAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Today is the sixth day of 2021 and the 17th day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY:

In 1838, Samuel F.B. Morse and Alfred Vail publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.

In 1912, New Mexico was admitted as the 47th U.S. state.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the “Four Freedoms” in his State of the Union address.

In 1973, U.S. daylight saving time was implemented year-round in response to the 1973 oil crisis.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Jedediah Smith (1799-1831), explorer/ author; Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), poet; Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), poet/ novelist; Danny Thomas (1912-1991), actor/comedian; Loretta Young (1913-2000), actress; Lou Holtz (1937- ), football coach/sportscaster; Rowan Atkinson (1955- ), actor/ comedian; Nancy Lopez (1957- ), golfer; Howie Long (1960- ), football player/broadcaster; John Singleton (1968-2019), filmmaker; Norman Reedus (1969- ), actor; Eddie Redmayne (1982- ), actor; Kate Mckinnon (1984- ), actress/comedian.

TODAY’S FACT: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” outlined his principal goals for people “everywhere in the world”: freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1994, U.S. champion figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the knee after a practice session on the orders of skating rival Tonya Harding’s exhusband.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

“I’ve got passion, and for people who don’t, I make them see how trite their lives are.” -- John Singleton

TODAY’S NUMBER:

$30,000 -- amount Congress appropriated in 1843 for Samuel F.B. Morse to construct the first experimental telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

TODAY’S MOON: Last quarter moon (Jan. 6).