AP News, January 20th, 2008
Today is Sunday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2008. There are 346 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
On this date:
In 1801, Secretary of State John Marshall was nominated by President Adams to be chief justice of the United States (he was sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801).
In 1841, the island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.)
In 1887, the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
In 1936, Britain's King George V died; he was succeeded by Edward VIII.
In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.
In 1942, Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Jews.
In 1945, President Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term.
In 1954, "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," a play by Herman Wouk based on part of his novel "The Caine Mutiny," opened on Broadway.
In 1986, the United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1986, Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel.
Ten years ago: A jury was selected in Amarillo, Texas, to hear a multi-million-dollar lawsuit filed by Texas cattlemen against talk show host Oprah Winfrey over comments made on her program concerning beef safety. (Winfrey won the case.)
Five years ago: Secretary of State Colin Powell, faced with stiff resistance and calls to go slow, bluntly told the Security Council that the U.N. "must not shrink" from its responsibility to disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld died in New York at age 99. Pollster Burns W. "Bud" Roper died on Cape Cod, Mass., at age 77.
One year ago: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., launched a trailblazing campaign for the White House, saying in a videotaped messsage on her Web site: "I'm in, and I'm in to win." Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback began a long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination (he withdrew last October). Twenty-five U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, including 12 in a helicopter crash in Baghdad and five in a sophisticated sneak attack in Karbala.
Today's Birthdays: Country singer Slim Whitman is 84. Actress Patricia Neal is 82. Comedian Arte Johnson is 79. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 78. Actress Dorothy Provine is 71. Singer Eric Stewart is 63. Movie director David Lynch is 62. Actor Daniel Benzali is 58. Rock musician Paul Stanley (KISS) is 56. Rock musician Ian Hill (Judas Priest) is 56. Comedian Bill Maher is 52. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 50. Actor James Denton ("Desperate Housewives") is 45. Rock musician Greg K. (The Offspring) is 43. Country singer John Michael Montgomery is 43. Actor Rainn Wilson ("The Office) is 42. Actress Stacey Dash is 41. TV personality Melissa Rivers is 40. Singer Xavier is 40. Singer Edwin McCain is 38. Actor Skeet Ulrich is 38. Rap musician ?uestlove (The Roots) is 37. Rock musician Rob Bourdon (Linkin Park) is 29. Actor Evan Peters is 21.
Thought for Today: "Few, save the poor, feel for the poor." — Letitia Landon, English poet (1802-1838).
