TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, JAN. 8, the eighth day of 2017. There are 357 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1867, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in overriding President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the District of Columbia Suffrage Bill, giving black men in the nation’s capital the right to vote.
In 1642, astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.
In 1790, President George Washington delivered his first State of the Union address to Congress in New York.
In 1815, the last major engagement of the War of 1812 came to an end as U.S. forces defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, not having gotten word of the signing of a peace treaty.
In 1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.”
In 1982, American Telephone and Telegraph settled the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.
In 1987, for the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25. In 1997, the state of Arkansas put three men to death in the second triple execution since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. (The first also occurred in Arkansas, in 1994.)
In 2011, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot and critically wounded when a gunman opened fire as the congresswoman met with constituents in Tucson; six people were killed, 12 others also wounded. (Gunman Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced in Nov. 2012 to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actorcomedian Larry Storch is 94. Broadcast journalist Sander Vanocur is 89. CBS newsman Charles Osgood is 84. Singer Shirley Bassey is 80. Game show host Bob Eubanks is 79. Country-gospel singer Cristy Lane is 77. Actress Yvette Mimieux and physicist Stephen Hawking are 75. Rock musician Robby Krieger (The Doors) is 71. Movie director John McTiernan is 66. Singer R. Kelly is 50. Rock musician Jeff Abercrombie (Fuel) and actress Ami Dolenz are 48. Actress-rock singer Jenny Lewis is 41. Singer-songwriter Erin McCarley and actress Sarah Polley are 38. Actress Gaby Hoffman is 35. Rock musician Disashi Lumumbo-Kasongo (Gym Class Heroes) is 34. Actor Freddie Stroma is 30.