Today in History

Today is Saturday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2012. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 5, 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Elizabeth Dole to succeed Drew Lewis as secretary of transportation; Dole became the first woman to head a Cabinet department in Reagan's administration, and the first to head the DOT.

On this date:

In 1589, Catherine de Medici of France died at age 69.

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

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

In 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.

In 1925, Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming became America's first female governor.

In 1933, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60. Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Work was completed four years later.)

In 1943, educator and scientist George Washington Carver died in Tuskegee, Ala., at age 81.

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 in what 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. (UMWA President Tony Boyle and seven others were convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, the killings.) "All My Children" premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced that he had ordered development of the space shuttle.

In 1993, the state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd, an admitted child sex killer, in America's first legal hanging since 1965.

Ten years ago: Two Palestinian suicide bombers set off back-to-back blasts in central Tel Aviv, killing 15 Israelis and eight foreign nationals in the bloodiest attack in six months. Chinese state media reported that an unmanned Shenzhou IV space capsule had returned safely to Earth.

Five years 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 crashed off Kodiak Island in southern Alaska, killing six of 10 people aboard. A canal breach in Fernley, Nev., flooded about 600 homes. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won The Associated Press 2007 NFL MVP award.

One year ago: Speaking at the Pentagon, President Barack Obama launched a reshaping and shrinking of the military, vowing to preserve U.S. pre-eminence even as the Army and Marine Corps shedded troops and the administration considered reducing its arsenal of nuclear weapons. A U.S. Navy destroyer rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected pirates. Jessica Joy Rees, a Southern California girl who had become a nationally recognized face of child cancer with a blog that chronicled her fight against brain tumors, died at age 12.

Today's Birthdays: Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale is 85. Actor Robert Duvall is 82. Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll is 81. King Juan Carlos of Spain is 75. Talk show host Charlie Rose is 71. Actress-director Diane Keaton is 67. Actor Ted Lange (lanj) is 65. Rhythm-and-blues musician George "Funky" Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 64. Rock musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 63. Former CIA Director George Tenet is 60. Actress Pamela Sue Martin is 60. Actor Clancy Brown is 54. Singer Iris Dement is 52. Actor Ricky Paull Goldin is 48. Actor Vinnie Jones is 48. Rock musician Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 47. Dancer-choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba is 45. Actress Heather Paige Kent is 44. Rock singer Marilyn Manson is 44. Actor Bradley Cooper is 38. Actress January Jones is 35. Actress Brooklyn Sudano is 32.

Thought for Today: "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these." -- George Washington Carver (1864-1943).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.