TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, JAN. 6, the sixth day of 2017. There are 359 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1967, U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Deckhouse Five, an offensive in the Mekong River delta. The 10-day operation reportedly claimed the lives of 21 Viet Cong fighters along with seven Americans.
In 1540, England’s King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. (The marriage lasted about six months.)
In 1759, George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married in New Kent County, Va.
In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph in Morristown, N.J.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.
In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.
In 1945, George Herbert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, N.Y.
In 1950, Britain recognized the communist government of China.
In 1974, year-round daylight saving time began in the United States on a trial basis as a fuel-saving measure in response to the OPEC oil embargo. In 1987, the U.S. Senate voted 88-4 to establish an 11-member panel to hold public hearings on the Iran-Contra affair.
In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroit’s Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding denied knowing about plans for the attack.)
In 2001, with Vice President Al Gore presiding in his capacity as president of the Senate, Congress formally certified George W. Bush the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Rock singermusician Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) is 66. Singer Jett Williams is 64. Rock musician Malcolm Young (AC-DC) is 64. World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 60. Actor Scott Bryce is 59. TV chef Nigella Lawson is 57. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eric Williams (BLACKstreet) is 57. Movie director John Singleton is 49. Actor Norman Reedus is 48. TV personality Julie Chen is 47. Actor Danny Pintauro (TV: “Who’s the Boss?”) is 41. Actress Cristela Alonzo is 38. Actress Rinko Kikuchi is 36. Actor Eddie Redmayne is 35. NBA player Gilbert Arenas is 35. Actress-comedian Kate McKinnon (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 33. Rock singer Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) is 31.