Today in History
Today is Wednesday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2022. There are 353 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit.
On this date:
In 1828, the United States and Mexico signed a Treaty of Limits defining the boundary between the two countries to be the same as the one established by an 1819 treaty between the U.S. and Spain.
In 1910, at a White House dinner hosted by President William Howard Taft, Baroness Rosen, wife of the Russian ambassador, caused a stir by requesting and smoking a cigarette — it was, apparently, the first time a woman had smoked openly during a public function in the executive mansion. (Some of the other women present who had brought their own cigarettes began lighting up in turn.)
In 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected, 204-174, a proposed constitutional amendment to give women nationwide the right to vote.
In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate after initially being appointed to serve out the remainder of the term of her late husband, Thaddeus.
In 1945, during World War II, Soviet forces began a major, successful offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe. Aircraft from U.S. Task Force 38 sank about 40 Japanese ships off Indochina.
In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, unanimously ruled that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. military should stay in Vietnam until Communist aggression there was stopped. The TV series “Batman,” starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo, premiered on ABC.
In 1969, the New York Jets of the American Football League upset the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League 16-7 in Super Bowl III, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
In 1971, the groundbreaking situation comedy “All in the Family” premiered on CBS television.
In 2000, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Illinois v. Wardlow, gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer.
In 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7 earthquake; the Haitian government said 316,000 people were killed, while a report prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development suggested the death toll may have been between 46,000 and 85,000.
In 2016, Iran detained 10 American sailors and their two small Navy boats after the boats drifted into Iranian waters; the sailors and their vessels were released the following day.
Ten years ago: Pentagon leaders scrambled to contain damage from an Internet video purporting to show four Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. (The Marine Corps announced in August 2012 that three Marines had received administrative punishments in connection with this incident.)
Five years ago: In yet another aftershock from the chaotic presidential campaign, the Justice Department inspector general opened an investigation into department and FBI actions before the election, including whether FBI Director James Comey followed established policies in the email investigation of Hillary Clinton. President Barack Obama ended the longstanding “wet foot, dry foot” immigration policy that allowed any Cuban who made it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident.
One year ago: The House voted to urge Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and hold a Cabinet vote to remove President Donald Trump from office; it was a symbolic action after Pence had already said he would not do so. Amid worry about renewed violence on Inauguration Day, the military’s top leaders issued a written reminder to service members that the deadly insurrection at the Capitol was an anti-democratic, criminal act, and that the right to free speech gives no one the right to commit violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said anyone flying to the United States would soon need to show proof of a negative test for COVID-19.
Today’s Birthdays: The Amazing Kreskin is 87. Country singer William Lee Golden (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 83. Actor Anthony Andrews is 74. Movie director Wayne Wang is 73. Actor Kirstie Alley is 71. Legal affairs blogger Ann Althouse is 71. Writer Walter Mosley is 70. Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 70. Radio-TV personality Howard Stern is 68. Writer-producer-director John Lasseter is 65. Broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour is 64. Actor Oliver Platt is 62. Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins is 62. Entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is 58. Rock singer Rob Zombie is 57. Actor Olivier Martinez is 56. Model Vendela is 55. Actor Farrah Forke is 54. Actor Rachael Harris is 54. Rock singer Zack de la Rocha is 52. Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 52. Actor Zabryna Guevara is 50. Singer Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay) is 49. Singer Melanie Chisholm (Spice Girls) is 48. Contemporary Christian singer Jeremy Camp is 44. Actor Cynthia Addai-Robinson is 42. R&B singer Amerie is 42. Actor Issa Rae is 37. Actor Will Rothhaar is 35. Actor Andrew Lawrence is 34. Rock singer ZAYN is 29. Pop/soul singer Ella Henderson (TV: “The X Factor”) is 26.
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