TODAY IN HISTORY

Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023 1975

a jury in Washington found Nixon administration officials John N. Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman and Robert C. Mardian guilty of charges related to the Watergate cover-up.

1979

the United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

1984

the breakup of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.

1985

the music cable channel VH-1 made its debut with a video of Marvin Gaye performing “The Star-spangled Banner.”

1993

Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

2006

President George W. Bush strongly defended his domestic spying program, calling it legal as well as vital to thwarting terrorist attacks. The Medicare prescription drug plan went into effect.

2014

the nation’s first legal recreational pot shops opened in Colorado at 8 a.m. Mountain time.

2013

The Senate approved a compromise in the small hours to avert the “fiscal cliff” and sent it to the House, which approved it in a late-night vote; President Barack Obama announced he would sign the measure. In Maryland, same-sex marriage became legal in the first state south of the Mason-dixon Line. No. 8 Stanford held off Wisconsin 20-14 in the 99th Rose Bowl. Singer Patti Page, 85, died in Encinitas, California.

2018

The nation’s first legal recreational pot shops opened in Colorado at 8 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. Actress Juanita Moore, 99, died in Los Angeles. No. 4Michigan State romped to a 24-20 victory over No. 5Stanford in the 100th Rose Bowl. No. 15 Central Florida pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the bowl season by outlasting No. 6 Baylor 52-42 in the Fiesta Bowl.

2022

A Louisiana federal judge ruled that President Joe Biden could not require teachers in the Head Start early education program to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A year after New Year’s Day passed without a Rose Parade due to the coronavirus pandemic, the floral spectacle marched on in Pasadena, California.