 Today's highlight
in history:
On Feb. 1, 1862, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," a poem by Julia
Ward Howe, was published in the Atlantic Monthly.
On this date:
In 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time in New
York. (However, since only three of the six justices were present,
the court recessed until the next day.)
In 1861, Texas voted to leave the Union at a Secession Convention in
Austin.
In 1922, in one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries, movie
director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his Los Angeles
home; the killing has never been solved.
In 1942, the Voice of America broadcast its first program to Europe,
relaying it through the facilities of the British Broadcasting Corp.
in London.
In 1943, one of America's most highly decorated military units, the
442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of
Japanese-Americans, was authorized.
In 1946, Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie (TRIG'-vuh lee) was chosen
to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.
In 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a
Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been
refused service.
In 1962, the Ken Kesey novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was
first published by Viking Press.
In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (hoh-MAY'-nee) received a
tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.
In 1982, "Late Night with David Letterman" premiered on NBC.
In 1991, 34 people were killed when an arriving USAir jetliner
crashed atop a commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles
International Airport.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry,
killing all seven of its crew members. Ten years ago:
President George W. Bush responded to the collapse of Enron by
proposing regulation reforms of 401(k) retirement plans. Justice
Department investigators directed President Bush's staff to preserve
the paper trail of any contact with Enron. Actress Winona Ryder was
charged with four felony counts stemming from her shoplifting arrest
at a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Ryder was
later convicted of felony grand theft and vandalism, and received
three years' probation.) The NCAA placed Alabama on five years'
probation, jolting the program with a two-year bowl ban and heavy
scholarship reductions.
[to top of second column] |
Five years ago: The departing top U.S. commander in Iraq,
Gen. George Casey, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that
improving security in Baghdad would take fewer than half as many
extra troops as President George W. Bush had chosen to commit.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) launched
anniversary celebrations for Iran's Islamic Revolution with a
defiant promise to push ahead with the country's controversial
nuclear program. Pulitzer Prize-winning opera composer Gian Carlo
Menotti died in Monaco at age 95.
One year ago: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he
would not run for a new term in September elections but rejected
protesters' demands he step down immediately and leave the country,
vowing to die on Egypt's soil, after a dramatic day in which a
quarter-million Egyptians staged their biggest protest to date
calling on him to go.
Today's birthdays: Gospel singer George Beverly Shea is 103.
Actor Stuart Whitman is 84. Singer Don Everly is 75. Actor Garrett
Morris is 75. Singer Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) is
75. Actor Sherman Hemsley is 74. Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 73.
Jazz musician Joe Sample is 73. TV personality-singer Joy Philbin is
71. Comedian Terry Jones is 70. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is 68. Opera
singer Carol Neblett is 66. Rock musician Mike Campbell (Tom Petty &
the Heartbreakers) is 62. Blues singer-musician Sonny Landreth is
61. Actor-writer-producer Bill Mumy (MOO'-mee) is 58. Rock singer
Exene Cervenka is 56. Actor Linus Roache is 48. Princess Stephanie
of Monaco is 47. Country musician Dwayne Dupuy (Ricochet) is 47.
Actress Sherilyn Fenn is 47. Lisa Marie Presley is 44.
Comedian-actor Pauly Shore is 44. Actor Brian Krause is 43. Jazz
musician Joshua Redman is 43. Rock musician Patrick Wilson (Weezer)
is 43. Actor Michael C. Hall is 41. Rock musician Ron Welty is 41.
Rapper Big Boi (Outkast) is 37. Country singer Julie Roberts is 33.
Actor Jarrett Lennon is 30. TV personality Lauren Conrad is 26.
Thought for today: "Facts and truth really don't have much to
do with each other." -- William Faulkner, American novelist and
poet (1897-1962)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
 |
