TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight

On Jan. 5, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist Communist aggression in what became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

On this date

In 1896, an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as X-rays.

In 1914, auto industrialist Henry Ford announced he was going to pay workers $5 for an eight-hour day, as opposed to $2.34 for a nine-hour day. (Employees still worked six days a week; the five-day work week was instituted in 1926.)

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

In 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Work was completed four years later.)

In 1943, educator and scientist George Washington Carver, who was born into slavery, died in Tuskegee, Ala., at about age 80.

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

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

In 1994, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, former speaker of the House of Representatives, died in Boston at age 81.

In 1998, Sonny Bono was killed when he struck a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort on the Nevada-California state line; he was 62.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Robert Duvall is 91. Musician Athol Guy (The Seekers) is 82. Former talk show host Charlie Rose is 80. Actor-director Diane Keaton is 76. Actor Ted Lange is 74. Musician George “Funky” Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 73. Musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 72. Actor Pamela Sue Martin is 69. Actor Clancy Brown is 63. Singer Marilyn Manson is 53. Actor Shea Whigham is 53. Actor Bradley Cooper is 47. Actor January Jones is 44.