Today in History

Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023 Today is Thursday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2023. There are 360 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

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 (RENT’-GUN) 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 8-hour day, as opposed to $2.34 for a 9-hour day. (Employees still worked six days a week; the 5-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, Alabama, at about age 80.

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

In 1953, Samuel Beckett’s twoact tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot,” considered a classic of the Theater of the Absurd, premiered in Paris.

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, the 1960s pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort on the Nevada-california state line; he was 62.

In 2004, foreigners arriving at U.S. airports were photographed and had their fingerprints scanned in the start of a government effort to keep terrorists out of the country.

In 2011, John Boehner (Bay’-nur) was elected speaker as Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives on the first day of the new Congress. Ten years ago: Republican Mitt Romney won the Wyoming caucuses, picking up eight delegates; in a debate three days before the New Hampshire primary, Romney clashed with Mike Huckabee on foreign policy and John Mccain on immigration. In a Democratic faceoff, Hillary Rodham Clinton accused campaign rival Barack Obama of changing his positions on health care and “a number of issues”; Obama replied that he’d been “entirely consistent” in his position. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won The Associated Press 2007NFL MVP award.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama hailed a last-minute deal with Congress that pulled the country back from the “fiscal cliff,” but warned in his Saturday radio and Internet address that he would not compromise over his insistence that lawmakers lift the federal debt ceiling.

One year ago: Australia denied entry to tennis star Novak Djokovic, who was seeking to play for a 10th Australian Open title later in the month; authorities canceled his visa because he failed to meet the requirements for an exemption to COVID-19 vaccination rules. (Djokovic, a vocal skeptic of vaccines, would be confined to an immigration detention hotel as he began a court fight that eventually proved unsuccessful.) After being held out of the team’s first 35games because he refused to get vaccinated, Kyrie Irving scored 22 points for the Brooklyn Nets in his first game of the season as the team beat the Indiana Pacers 129-121on the road; he was still unable to play in New York because of his vaccination status. The Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, scheduled for Jan. 31st, was postponed due to what organizers called “too many risks” from the omicron variant of the coronavirus. (It would be rescheduled for early April in Las Vegas.)

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Robert Duvall is 92. Juan Carlos, former King of Spain, is 85. Singermusician Athol Guy (The Seekers) is 83. Former talk show host Charlie Rose is 81. Actor-director Diane Keaton is 77. Actor Ted Lange (lanj) is 75. R&B musician George “Funky” Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 74. Rock musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 73. Former CIA Director George Tenet is 70. Actor Pamela Sue Martin is 70. Actor Clancy Brown is 64. Singer Iris Dement is 62. Actor Suzy Amis is 61. Actor Ricky Paull Goldin is 58. Actor Vinnie Jones is 58. Rock musician Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 57. Actor Joe Flanigan is 56. Talk show host/dancer-choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba is 55. Rock musician Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age) is 55. Actor Heather Paige Kent is 54. Rock singer Marilyn Manson is

54. Actor Shea Whigham is 54. Actor Derek Cecil is 50. Actorcomedian Jessica Chaffin is

49. Actor Bradley Cooper is 48. Actor January Jones is 45. Actor Brooklyn Sudano is 42. Actor Franz Drameh is 30.

Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 Today is Friday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2023. There are 359 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and smashed their way into the Capitol

to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, forcing lawmakers into hiding; most of the rioters had come from a nearby rally where Trump urged them to “fight like hell.” A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by a police officer as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway inside the Capitol. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, injured while confronting the rioters, suffered a stroke the next day and died from natural causes, the Washington, D.C., medical examiner’s office said. (In the weeks that followed, four of the officers who responded to the riot took their own lives.) Congress reconvened hours later to finish certifying the election result.

On this date:

In 1412, tradition holds that Joan of Arc was born this day in Domremy.

In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph in Morristown, New Jersey.

In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.

In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of “Four Freedoms”: Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.

In 1974, year-round daylight saving time began in the United States on a trial basis as a fuelsaving measure in response to the OPEC oil embargo.

In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10of the “Freeway Killer” slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)

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 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution, but denied any advance knowledge about the assault.)

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 2000presidential election.

In 2005, former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested on murder charges 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in prison in 2018.)

In 2006, velvet-voiced singer Lou Rawls died in Los Angeles at age 72.

In 2020, throngs of Iranians attended the funeral of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who’d been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq; Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wept while praying over the casket. Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said he was “prepared to testify” if subpoenaed by the Senate in its impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. (The Senate voted against calling witnesses.)

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama returned to Washington after a winter vacation in Hawaii that was interrupted by the “fiscal cliff” crisis. In his first public speech in six months, a defiant Syrian President Bashar Assad rallied a cheering crowd to fight the uprising against his authoritarian rule, dismissing any chance of dialogue with what he called “murderous criminals.” The NHL and the players’ association agreed on a tentative pact to end a 113-day lockout.

Five years ago: Pushing back against a new book that said his own aides questioned his competence, President Donald Trump defended his mental fitness in a series of tweets, saying that he is “like, really smart” and “a very stable genius.” Japanese air bag maker Takata said it was recalling an additional 3.3 million faulty air bag inflators, expanding the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. About 100million Americans were faced with a gusty deep freeze that followed a whopping East Coast snowstorm; the wind chill was close to minus 100on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington.

One year ago: On the anniversary of the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden forcefully blamed Donald Trump and his supporters for holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” with election lies that sparked the attack; Biden spoke in the Capitol’s ornate Statuary Hall, where rioters had laid siege, and called on Americans to remember what they saw on Jan. 6with their own eyes, amid what he said were efforts of Trump supporters to “rewrite history.” Actor Sidney Poitier (Pwah’-tee-ay) died at his Los Angeles home at 94; he was the first Black actor to win an Oscar for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw. Peter Bogdanovich, director of 1970s black-and-white classics including “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” died in Los Angeles at 82.

Today’s Birthdays: Country musician Joey Miskulin (Riders in the Sky) is 74. Former FBI director Louis Freeh is 73. Rock singer-musician Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) is 72. Singer Jett Williams is 70. Actorcomedian Rowan Atkinson is 68. World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 66. Actor Scott Bryce is 65. R&B singer Kathy Sledge is 64. TV chef Nigella Lawson is 63. R&B singer Eric Williams (Blackstreet) is 63. Actor Norman Reedus is 54. Food writer and blogger Ree Drummond is

54. TV personality Julie Chen is

53. Actor Danny Pintauro (TV: “Who’s the Boss?”) is 47. Actor Cristela Alonzo is 44. Actor Rinko Kikuchi (RINK’-OH kih-koo’-chee) is 42. Actor Eddie Redmayne is

41. Retired NBA All-star Gilbert Arenas is 41. Actor-comedian Kate Mckinnon is 39. Actor Diona Reasonover is 39. Rock singer Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) is

37.

Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023 Today is Saturday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2023. There are 358 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 7, 1953, President Truman announced in his State of the Union message to Congress that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.

On this date:

In 1608, an accidental fire devastated the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony.

In 1789, America held its first presidential election as voters chose electors who, a month later, selected George Washington to be the nation’s first chief executive.

In 1927, commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.

In 1955, singer Marian Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan

Opera in New York, in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” In 1959, the United States recognized the new government of Cuba, six days after Fidel Castro led the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1963, the U.S. Post Office raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 4to 5cents.

In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government. In 1989, Emperor Hirohito of Japan died in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.

In 1999, for the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate. President Bill Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted.

In 2004, President George W. Bush proposed legal status, at least temporarily, for millions of immigrants improperly working in the U.S.

In 2015, masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French newspaper that had caricatured the Prophet Mohammad, methodically killing 12people, including the editor, before escaping in a car. (Two suspects were killed two days later.) In 2019, Amazon eclipsed Microsoft as the most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S. For the first time in more than 25 years, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was absent from oral arguments as she recuperated from cancer surgery.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama announced he would nominate former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary, calling him “the leader our troops deserve”; Obama also chose White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. The No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide rolled top-ranked Notre Dame 42-14for the BCS championship.

Five years ago: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was the top film at the Golden Globe Awards, winning as best drama and taking home awards for stars Frances Mcdormand and Sam Rockwell and for writer-director Martin Mcdonagh. The Golden Globes ceremony became an expression of female empowerment in the post-harvey Weinstein era, capped by a speech in which Cecil B. Demille Award winner Oprah Winfrey said of men who use their power to abuse women, “Their time is up!” The arctic air that engulfed parts of the East Coast broke cold temperature records from Maine to West Virginia.

One year ago: Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced to life in prison; a judge in Georgia denied any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit of the 25-year-old Black man after spotting him running in their neighborhood. In a first for medical science, doctors at the University of Maryland transplanted a heart from a pig that had undergone gene-editing into a human patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life. (The patient, 57-year-old David Bennett, died two months later; he’d been considered too sick to get a human heart.)

Today’s Birthdays: Magazine publisher Jann Wenner is 77. Singer Kenny Loggins is 75. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 74. Actor Erin Gray is 73. Actor Sammo Hung is 71. Actor Jodi Long is 69. Actor David Caruso is 67. Talk show host Katie Couric is 66. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 64. Rock musician Kathy Valentine is 64. Actor David Marciano is 63. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is 62. Actor Hallie Todd is 61. Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., is 60. Actor Nicolas Cage is 59. Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik (on-drah’-sik) (Five for Fighting) is 58. Actor Rex Lee is 54. Actor Doug E. Doug is 53. Actor Kevin Rahm is 52. Actor Jeremy Renner is 52. Country singer-musician John Rich is 48. Actor Reggie Austin is 44. Singer-rapper Aloe Blacc is 44. Actor Lauren Cohan is 41. Actor Brett Dalton is 40. Actor Robert Ri’chard is 40. Actor Lyndsy Fonseca is 36. Actor Liam Aiken is 33. Actor Camryn Grimes is 33. Actor Max Morrow is 32. Actor Marcus Scribner is 23.