Today in History
Today is Sunday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2024. There are 359 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 7, 1953, President Harry S. 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 4 to 5 cents.
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 2013, No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide rolled top-ranked Notre Dame 42-14 for college football’s BCS championship.
In 2015, masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French newspaper that had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, methodically killing 12 people, including the editor, before escaping in a car. (Two suspects were killed two days later.)
In 2018, 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!”
In 2019, Amazon eclipsed Microsoft as the most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S.
In 2022, 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 2023, Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the House on a historic post-midnight 15th ballot, overcoming holdouts from his own ranks after a chaotic week that tested the new GOP majority’s ability to govern.
Today’s Birthdays: Magazine publisher Jann Wenner is 78. Singer Kenny Loggins is 76. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 75. Actor Erin Gray is 74. Actor Sammo Hung is 72. Actor Jodi Long is 70. Actor David Caruso is 68. Talk show host Katie Couric is 67. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 65. Rock musician Kathy Valentine is 65. Actor David Marciano is 64. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is 63. Actor Hallie Todd is 62. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is 61. Actor Nicolas Cage is 60. Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik (on-DRAH’-sik) (Five for Fighting) is 59. Actor Rex Lee is 55. Actor Doug E. Doug is 54. Actor Kevin Rahm is 53. Actor Jeremy Renner is 53. Country singer-musician John Rich is 49. Actor Reggie Austin is 45. Singer-rapper Aloe Blacc is 45. Actor Lauren Cohan is 42. Actor Brett Dalton is 41. Actor Robert Ri’chard is 41. Actor Lyndsy Fonseca is 37. Actor Liam Aiken is 34. Actor Camryn Grimes is 34. Actor Max Morrow is 33. Actor Marcus Scribner is 24.
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