Today In History

Today in History: Tuesday, January  17, 2017
AP Highlight in History:
On Jan. 17, 1961, in his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

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On this date in:
1562 French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain.
1706 Statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston.
1806 Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha, gave birth to James Madison Randolph, the first child born in the White House.
1893 Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown.
1893 Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, died in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.
1899 Gangster Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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1945 Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II.
1945 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, was taken into Soviet custody in Budapest, Hungary. (His fate has never been determined.)
1946 The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.
1977 Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.
1994 A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 61 people and causing $20 billion worth of damage.
1995 A magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.
1997 A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country’s history.
1998 President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil suit when he answered questions from lawyers for Paula Jones, who had accused Clinton of sexual harassment.
2001 Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.
2008 Chess master Bobby Fischer died at age 64.
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Highlights of This Day in History
Today’s Birthdays:
First lady Michelle Obama turns 53 years old today.

AP Photo/Ed Andrieski

Name Profession Age
Betty White Actress (“The Golden Girls”) 95
James Earl Jones Actor 86
Maury Povich Talk show host 78
Muhammad Ali Boxing Hall of Famer 75
Mick Taylor Rock musician (Rolling Stones) 69
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Lawyer, environmental activist 63
Steve Earle Rock singer 62
Paul Young Rock singer 61
Steve Harvey Actor, comedian 60
Susanna Hoffs Rock musician, singer (The Bangles) 58
Jim Carrey Actor 55
Denis O’Hare Actor 55
Joshua Malina Actor (“The West Wing,” “Sports Night”) 51
Naveen Andrews Actor (“Lost”) 48
Kid Rock Rapper 46
Actress Zooey Deschanel (“New Girl”) turns 37 years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

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