This day in history

[January 06, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2011. There are 359 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Jan. 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of "Four Freedoms": Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.

On this date:

In 1540, England's King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. (The marriage lasted about six months.)

In 1759, George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married in New Kent County, Va.

In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.

In 1861, Florida militiamen seized the federal arsenal at Chattahoochee.

In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.

In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.

In 1942, the Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York more than a month after leaving California and following a westward route.

In 1950, Britain recognized the Communist government of China.

In 1967, U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Deckhouse Five, an offensive in the Mekong River delta.

In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the "Freeway Killer" slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)

Ten years ago: With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding (in his capacity as president of the Senate), Congress formally certified George W. Bush the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.

Five years ago: Al-Qaida's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahri (AY'-muhn ahl-ZWAH'-ree), said in a videotape that a recent U.S. decision to withdraw some troops from Iraq represented "the victory of Islam." Hugh Thompson, Jr., a former Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died in Alexandria, La., at age 62. The 115-year-old Pilgrim Baptist Church of Chicago was gutted by fire. Velvet-voiced singer Lou Rawls died in Los Angeles at age 72.

One year ago: James von Brunn, a 89-year-old white supremacist charged in a deadly shooting at Washington's Holocaust museum, died in North Carolina, where he'd been held while awaiting trial. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown fended off a challenge to his leadership from within his own ruling Labour party just months before general elections.

Today's birthdays: Pollster Louis Harris is 90. Bluegrass performer Earl Scruggs is 87. Retired MLB All-Star Ralph Branca is 85. Author E.L. Doctorow is 80. Actress Bonnie Franklin is 67. Musician Joey, the CowPolka King (Riders in the Sky) is 62. Former FBI director Louis Freeh is 61. Rock singer-musician Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) is 60. Singer Jett Williams is 58. Rock musician Malcolm Young (AC-DC) is 58. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson is 56. World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 54. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kathy Sledge is 52. TV chef Nigella Lawson is 51. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eric Williams (BLACKstreet) is 51. Movie composer A.R. Rahman (Film: "Slumdog Millionaire") is 45. Movie director John Singleton is 43. TV personality Julie Chen is 41. Actor Danny Pintauro ("Who's the Boss?") is 35. Actress Rinko Kikuchi (Film: "Babel") is 30. NBA player Gilbert Arenas is 29. Rock singer Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) is 25.

Thought for today: "Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life." -- Katharine Fullerton Gerould, American author (1879-1944)

[Associated Press]

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