Today in History

Today is Monday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2015. There are 353 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Jan. 12, 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected, 204-174, a proposed constitutional amendment to give women nationwide the right to vote. The silent film drama "A Fool There Was," which propelled Theda Bara to stardom with her portrayal of a predatory vamp, premiered in New York.

On this date:

In 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died.

In 1773, the first public museum in America was organized in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1828, the United States and Mexico signed a Treaty of Limits defining the boundary between the two countries to be the same as the one established by an 1819 treaty between the U.S. and Spain.

In 1912, textile workers at the Everett Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, most of them immigrant women, walked off the job to protest wage cuts.

In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate after initially being appointed to serve out the remainder of the term of her late husband, Thaddeus.

In 1945, during World War II, Soviet forces began a major, successful offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe. Aircraft from U.S. Task Force 38 sank about 40 Japanese ships off Indochina.

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit.

In 1965, the music variety show "Hullabaloo" premiered on NBC-TV with host-of-the-week Jack Jones; guests included Joey Heatherton, the New Christy Minstrels and Woody Allen. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry ("A Raisin in the Sun") died in New York at age 34.

In 1975, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16-6 to win Super Bowl IX at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

In 1986, the shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.

In 1995, Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, was arrested in Minneapolis on charges she'd tried to hire a hitman to kill Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (the charges were later dropped in a settlement with the government).

In 2000, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Illinois v. Wardlow, gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer.

Ten years ago: A NASA spacecraft, Deep Impact, blasted off on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. (The probe crashed into Comet Tempel 1 in July 2005.) Democrat Christine Gregoire, winner of the extremely close Washington governor's race, was inaugurated. Britain's Prince Harry apologized after a newspaper published a photograph of the young royal wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party.

Five years ago: Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7 earthquake; the Haitian government says 316,000 people were killed, while a report prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development suggests the death toll may have been between 46,000 and 85,000. U.S. and Mexican authorities announced the capture of Teodoro Garcia Simental, a high-ranking member of the Tijuana cartel known as "El Teo."

One year ago: Officials announced that Iran had agreed to limit uranium enrichment and to open its nuclear program to daily inspection by international experts. Southwest Flight 4013, a Boeing 737 from Chicago, landed at the wrong Missouri airfield while enroute to Branson. Jeremy Abbott won his fourth U.S. figure skating title at the championships in Boston. At the Golden Globes, "12 Years a Slave" won for best motion picture drama while "American Hustle" was named best musical or comedy picture.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Katherine MacGregor (TV: "Little House on the Prairie") is 90. Singer Glenn Yarbrough is 85. The Amazing Kreskin is 80. Country singer William Lee Golden (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 76. Rock musician Cynthia Robinson (Sly and the Family Stone) is 71. Actor Anthony Andrews is 67. Movie director Wayne Wang is 66. Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh is 64. Actress Kirstie Alley is 64. Writer Walter Mosley is 63. Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 63. Radio-TV personality Howard Stern is 61. Writer-producer-director John Lasseter is 58. Broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour is 57. Rock musician Charlie Gillingham (Counting Crows) is 55. Actor Oliver Platt is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins is 55. Entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is 51. Actor Olivier Martinez is 49. Rapper TBird (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 48. Model Vendela is 48. Actress Farrah Forke is 47. Actress Rachael Harris is 47. Rock singer Zack de la Rocha is 45. Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 45. Singer Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay) is 42. Rock musician Matt Wong (Reel Big Fish) is 42. Singer Melanie Chisholm (Spice Girls) is 41. Contemporary Christian singer Jeremy Camp is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Amerie is 35. Actress Naya Rivera is 28. Actor Will Rothhaar is 28. Actor Andrew Lawrence is 27. Rock singer Zayn Malik (One Direction) is 22.

Thought for Today: "Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads." -- George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright (1856-1950).

(Above Advance for Use Monday, Jan. 12)

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