This day in history

[January 05, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Monday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2009. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Jan. 5, 1896, an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as "X-rays."

On this date:

In 1781, a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Va.

In 1809, the Treaty of the Dardanelles, which ended the Anglo-Turkish War, was concluded by the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1895, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. (He was ultimately vindicated.)

In 1925, Nellie T. Ross became governor of Wyoming; she was the first female governor in U.S. history. (She succeeded Frank E. Lucas, who had served as acting governor following the death of Ross' husband, William B. Ross.)

In 1933, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60.

In 1949, in his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his administration the Fair Deal.

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist Communist aggression; this became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

In 1970, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pa., home. UMW President Anthony Boyle and three others were convicted of the killings.

In 1994, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, died in Boston at age 81.

In 1998, Sonny Bono, the 1960's pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; he was 62.

Ten years ago: Four U.S. Air Force and Navy jets fired on, and missed, four Iraqi MiGs testing the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq in the first such air confrontation in more than six years.

Five years ago: Foreigners arriving at U.S. airports were photographed and had their fingerprints scanned in the start of a government effort to keep terrorists out of the country. NASA released a 3-D, black-and-white panoramic picture of the bleak surface of Mars snapped by the newly landed rover Spirit. China confirmed its first SARS case since an outbreak was contained in July 2003. After 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he'd bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Baseball pitcher Tug McGraw died near Nashville, Tenn., at age 59.

One year ago: Republican Mitt Romney won the Wyoming caucuses, picking up eight delegates; in a debate three days before the New Hampshire primary, Romney clashed with Mike Huckabee on foreign policy and John McCain on immigration. In a Democratic faceoff, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused campaign rival Barack Obama of changing his positions on health care and "a number of issues." A Piper Navajo Chieftain airplane crashed off Kodiak island in southern Alaska, killing six people. A canal breach in Fernley, Nev., flooded about 600 homes. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won The Associated Press 2007 NFL MVP award.

Today's birthdays: Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale is 81. Actor Robert Duvall is 78. Football Hall-of-Fame coach Chuck Noll is 77. King Juan Carlos of Spain is 71. Talk show host Charlie Rose is 67. Actress-director Diane Keaton is 63. Actor Ted Lange is 61. Rhythm-and-blues musician George "Funky" Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 60. Rock musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 59. Actress Pamela Sue Martin is 56. Actor Clancy Brown is 50. Singer Iris Dement is 48. Actor Ricky Paull Goldin is 44. Actor Vinnie Jones is 44. Rock musician Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 43. Actress Heather Paige Kent is 40. Rock singer Marilyn Manson is 40. Actress January Jones is 31. Actress Brooklyn Sudano is 28.

Thought for today: "The most certain sign of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy." -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld, French author (1613-1680)

[Associated Press]

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