[ T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y ] • 1773, the first public museum in America was established, in Charleston, S.C. • 1828, boundary disputes were settled between the United States and Mexico • 1900, the Detroit Automobile Company finished its first commercial vehicle, a delivery wagon. The wagon was designed by a young engineer named Henry Ford, who had produced his own first motorcar, the quadricycle, before joining the company • 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote • 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate • 1942, President Roosevelt re-established the National War Labor Board • 1943, the U.S. wartime Office of Price Administration said standard frankfurters would be replaced during World War II by Victory Sausages consisting of a mixture of meat and soy meal • 1945, during World War II, Soviet forces began a huge offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe • 1966, President Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended • 1971, a U.S. grand jury indicted the Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other people, including a nun and two priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap presidential adviser Henry Kissinger • 1967, Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation • 1976, the UN Security Council votes 11-1 to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights). The United States cast the dissenting vote • 1984, an international panel overseeing the restoration of the Great Pyramids in Egypt overcomes years of frustration when it abandons modern construction techniques in favor of the method employed by the ancient Egyptians • 1986, the shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz • 1987, Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite arrived in Lebanon on his latest mission to win the release of four Western hostages being held by practitioners of that religion of peace; however, Waite ended up being taken captive himself • 1995, Malcolm Xs daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, is arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan. ALSO: The NASA spacecraft, Deep Impact, blasted off on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. (The probe smashed into Comet Tempel 1 in July of that year) • 1997, the shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to pick up American astronaut John Blaha from the Russian space station Mir • 1998, nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning • 1999, Mark McGwires 70th home run ball was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder • 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer • 2002, the United States intensified its anti-terror campaign in eastern Afghanistan, dropping bombs on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban hideouts. ALSO: Durham County, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong, facing ethics charges, asked to be removed from the Duke lacrosse investigation. (State prosecutors later exonerated three suspects; Nifong ended up being disbarred.) • 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that an alien can be deported to a country without the advance consent of that countrys government • 2006, Mehmet Ali Agca, a practitioner of that religion of peace who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from an Istanbul prison after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist. ALSO: A stampede during the Stoning the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims • 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale dealt Haiti and its capital Port-au-Prince a devastating blow, the regions worst quake in 200 years. Death estimates eventually surpassed the 200,000 mark as many sections of the city and thousands of homes were leveled. AND: Former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire admitted that he used illegal steroids for several years, including the season in which he hit a record 70 home runs • 2011, President Barack Obama visited Tucson, Ariz., the scene of a deadly shooting rampage, where he urged Americans to refrain from partisan bickering and to embrace the idealistic vision of democracy held by 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest of the shooting victims. ALSO: The Lebanese government, in turmoil since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, toppled after 11 Cabinet members resigned and Hezbollah withdrew • 2014, Six world powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States) and Iran agreed on a plan to restrict Iranian nuclear operations in return for the easing of some economic sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, Weve taken a critical, significant step forward towards reaching a verifiable resolution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 17:25:42 +0000