Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2013. There are 356 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 9, 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif.

On this date:

In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.

In 1861, Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union, the same day the Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements and supplies to Federal troops at Fort Sumter, S.C., retreated because of artillery fire.

In 1931, Bobbi Trout and Edna May Cooper broke an endurance record for female aviators as they returned to Mines Field in Los Angeles after flying a Curtiss Robin monoplane continuously for 122 hours and 50 minutes.

In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.

In 1951, the United Nations headquarters in New York officially opened.

In 1960, on his 47th birthday, Vice President Richard Nixon became a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

In 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported autobiography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.

In 1987, the White House released a Jan. 1986 memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North showing a link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

In 1993, the two owners of a fast food restaurant in Palatine, Ill., and five employees were found shot and stabbed to death. (Two suspects were arrested in May 2002; both were convicted in separate trials and sentenced to life in prison.)

In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.

Ten years ago: U.N. weapons inspectors said there was no "smoking gun" to prove Iraq had nuclear, chemical or biological weapons but they demanded that Baghdad provide private access to scientists and fresh evidence to back its claim that it had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction. Thousands of Venezuelan bank workers stayed home to support a nationwide strike seeking new presidential elections.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush, on his first visit to Israel as president, warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it meddled again with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military reported nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of Baghdad. Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, died in Los Angeles at age 84.

One year ago: Iranian state radio reported that a court had convicted former U.S. Marine Amir Mirzaei Hekmati of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death. (The Obama administration and his family deny Hekmati was a CIA spy.) President Barack Obama announced that chief of staff William Daley was quitting; he was succeeded by Obama budget chief Jack Lew. Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame. No. 2 Alabama beat No. 1 LSU 21-0 for the first shutout in BCS title game history.

Today's Birthdays: Author Judith Krantz is 85. Football Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr is 79. Sportscaster Dick Enberg is 78. Actress K. Callan is 77. Folk singer Joan Baez is 72. Rockabilly singer Roy Head is 72. Rock musician Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) is 69. Singer David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter) is 63. Singer Crystal Gayle is 62. Actor J.K. Simmons is 58. Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberto Menchu is 54. Rock musician Eric Erlandson is 50. Actress Joely Richardson is 48. Rock musician Carl Bell (Fuel) is 46. Rock singer Steve Harwell (Smash Mouth) is 46. Rock singer-musician Dave Matthews is 46. Actress-director Joey Lauren Adams is 45. Roots singer-songwriter Hayes Carll is 37. Singer A.J. McLean (Backstreet Boys) is 35. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, is 31. Pop-rock musician Drew Brown (OneRepublic) is 29. Rock-soul singer Paolo Nutini is 26. Actress Nina Dobrev is 24. Actor Tyree Brown (TV: "Parenthood") is nine.

Thought for Today: "Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits." -- President Richard Nixon (1913-1994).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.