Today in History

Today is Sunday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2015. There are 361 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Jan. 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his State of the Union address in which he outlined the goals of his "Great Society." American-born British poet T.S. Eliot died in London at age 76.

On this date:

In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

In 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.

In 1904, the Supreme Court, in Gonzalez v. Williams, ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the United States freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens. (Puerto Ricans received U.S. citizenship in 1917.)

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the handicapped.

In 1943, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin made the cover of TIME as the magazine's 1942 "Man of the Year."

In 1951, during the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces recaptured the city of Seoul.

In 1960, author and philosopher Albert Camus died in an automobile accident in Villeblevin, France, at age 46.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

In 1987, 16 people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.

In 1990, Charles Stuart, who claimed that he'd been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Massachusetts bridge after he himself came under suspicion.

In 1995, the 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era.

In 2007, Nancy Pelosi was elected the first female speaker of the House as Democrats took control of Congress.

Ten years ago: The governor of the Baghdad region (Ali al-Haidari), known for cooperating closely with American troops, was assassinated along with six bodyguards as he drove to work. No. 1 Southern California overwhelmed No. 2 Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl. Wade Boggs was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, and Ryne Sandberg made it with just six votes to spare on his third try.

Five years ago: Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper, and in a surprise move renamed the 2,717-foot gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa in a nod to the leader of neighboring Abu Dhabi -- the oil-rich sheikdom which had come to its financial rescue. The Secret Service said that a third uninvited guest had made his way into the White House state dinner for India's prime minister in Nov. 2009. (For his part, Washington businessman Carlos Allen insisted that he had received an invitation, and did not crash the event.) Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only person recognized by the Japanese government as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, died at age 93 -- in Nagasaki.

One year ago: The city center of Iraq's Fallujah fell completely into the hands of fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Levant. Thirty-one workers were killed in the collapse of a building under construction in Canacona, Goa, in southern India.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Barbara Rush is 88. Football Hall-of-Fame coach Don Shula is 85. Opera singer Grace Bumbry is 78. Actress Dyan Cannon is 76. Author-historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is 72. Country singer Kathy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 60. Actress Ann Magnuson is 59. Rock musician Bernard Sumner (New Order, Joy Division) is 59. Country singer Patty Loveless is 58. Rock singer Michael Stipe is 55. Actor Patrick Cassidy is 53. Actor Dave Foley is 52. Actress Dot Jones is 51. Actor Rick Hearst is 50. Singer-musician Cait O'Riordan is 50. Actress Julia Ormond is 50. Tennis player Guy Forget is 50. Country singer Deana Carter is 49. Rock musician Benjamin Darvill (Crash Test Dummies) is 48. Actor Jeremy Licht is 44. Actress-singer Jill Marie Jones is 40. Alt-country singer Justin Townes Earle is 33. Christian rock singer Spencer Chamberlain (Underoath) is 32. Actress Lenora Crichlow is 30. Comedian-actress Charlyne Yi is 29. Actress-singer Coco Jones is 17.

Thought for Today: "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." -- T.S. Eliot (1888-1965).

Copyright 2015, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.