Today In History

  • Thursday, December 31, 2009 6:34pm
  • Life

Today is Sunday, Jan. 3, the third day of 2010. There are 362 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On Jan. 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th state as President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation.

ON THIS DATE

In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo X.

In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J.

In 1868, the Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan’s emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.

In 1870, groundbreaking took place for the Brooklyn Bridge.

In 1938, the March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.

In 1961, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.

In 1980, conservationist Joy Adamson, author of “Born Free,” was killed in northern Kenya by a former employee.

In 1990, ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican’s diplomatic mission.

In 1993, President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a historic nuclear missile-reduction treaty in Moscow.

In 2000, the last new daily “Peanuts” strip by Charles Schulz ran in 2,600 newspapers.

In 2005, President George W. Bush tapped his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Bill Clinton to help raise tsunami relief funds.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Record producer Sir George Martin is 84. Actor Robert Loggia is 80. Actor Dabney Coleman is 78. Journalist-author Betty Rollin is 74. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull is 71. Musician Stephen Stills is 65. Rock musician John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) is 64. Actress Victoria Principal is 60. Actor-director Mel Gibson is 54. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 38. Singer Kimberley Locke (“American Idol”) is 32. NFL quarterback Eli Manning is 29. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lloyd is 24.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“To have reason to get up in the morning, it is necessary to possess a guiding principle. A belief of some kind. A bumper sticker, if you will.” — Judith Guest, American author.

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