TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Friday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2020. There are 349 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

On Jan. 17, 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

On this date:

■ 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 1917, Denmark ceded the Virgin Islands to the United States for $25 million.

■ In 1945, Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II; Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

■ In 1955, the submarine USS Nautilus made its first nuclear-powered test run from its berth in Groton (GRAH’-tuhn), 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 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

■ 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 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

■ In 1996, Sheik Omar AbdelRahman and nine followers were handed long prison sentences for plotting to blow up New York-area landmarks.

■ In 1997, a court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country’s history.

Thought for Today: “The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever.” — Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (1916-1997).