This day in history

[January 07, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Friday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2011. There are 358 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Jan. 7, 1789, the first U.S. presidential election was held. Americans voted for electors who, a month later, chose George Washington to be the nation's first president.

On this date:

In 1608, an accidental fire devastated the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony.

In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei began observing three of Jupiter's moons; he spotted a fourth moon almost a week later.

In 1800, the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, was born in Summerhill, N.Y.

In 1894, one of the earliest motion picture experiments took place at the Thomas Edison studio in West Orange, N.J., as Fred Ott was filmed taking a pinch of snuff and sneezing.

In 1927, commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.

In 1942, the Japanese siege of Bataan began during World War II.

In 1949, George C. Marshall resigned as U.S. Secretary of State; President Harry S. Truman chose Dean Acheson to succeed him.

In 1972, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and William H. Rehnquist were sworn in as the 99th and 100th members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

In 1989, Emperor Hirohito of Japan died in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.

Ten years ago: President-elect George W. Bush's transition team acknowledged that Labor Secretary-designate Linda Chavez had provided housing and financial aid to an illegal immigrant (Chavez ended up withdrawing her nomination).

Five years ago: Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped and her translator shot dead in one of Baghdad's most dangerous Sunni Arab neighborhoods. (Carroll was freed almost three months later.) A Black Hawk helicopter carrying eight U.S. troops and four American civilians crashed near the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, killing all aboard. U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, facing corruption charges, stepped down as House majority leader. (DeLay was found guilty in Nov. 2010 of illegally funneling corporate money to Texas candidates; he is appealing his conviction.)

One year ago: A worker for a transformer-making company in St. Louis showed up at the plant and opened fire, killing three people and wounding five before killing himself. Thousands of Egyptian Christians went on a rampage a day after six members of their community were gunned down as they left midnight Mass for Coptic Christians in the southern Egyptian town of Nag Hamadi. No. 1 Alabama held on for a 37-21 win over No. 2 Texas in the BCS championship played in Pasadena, Calif.

Today's birthdays: Author William Peter Blatty is 83. Country singer Jack Greene is 81. Pop musician Paul Revere is 73. Magazine publisher Jann Wenner is 65. Singer Kenny Loggins is 63. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 62. Latin pop singer Juan Gabriel is 61. Actress Erin Gray is 61. Actor Sammo Hung is 59. Actor David Caruso is 55. "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric is 54. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 52. Rock musician Kathy Valentine (The Go-Go's) is 52. Actor David Marciano is 51. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is 50. Actress Hallie Todd is 49. Actor Nicolas Cage is 47. Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik (on-DRAH'-sik) (Five for Fighting) is 46. Actor Doug E. Doug is 41. Actor Kevin Rahm is 40. Actor Jeremy Renner is 40. Country singer-musician John Rich is 37. Actor Dustin Diamond is 34. Actor Robert Ri'chard is 28. Actor Liam Aiken is 21. Actress Camryn Grimes is 21. Actor Max Morrow is 20.

Thought for today: "Nothing in science has any value to society if it is not communicated, and scientists are beginning to learn their social obligations." -- Anne Roe Simpson, American psychologist (1904-1991)

[Associated Press]

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