Today in History

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2016. There are 354 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Jan. 12, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. military should stay in Vietnam until Communist aggression there was stopped. The TV series "Batman," inspired by the comic book and starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo, premiered on ABC, airing twice a week on consecutive nights.

On this date:

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 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.

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 1971, the groundbreaking situation comedy "All in the Family" premiered on CBS television.

In 1976, mystery writer Dame Agatha Christie died in Wallingford, England, at age 85.

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

In 1998, Linda Tripp provided Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office with taped conversations between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7 earthquake; the Haitian government has said 316,000 people were killed, while a report prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development suggested the death toll may have been between 46,000 and 85,000.

Ten years ago: Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from an Istanbul prison after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist. A stampede broke out during the Islamic hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, killing 363 people. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito completed four days of testimony at his Senate confirmation hearing.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama visited Tucson, Arizona, the scene of a deadly shooting rampage, where he urged Americans to refrain from partisan bickering and to embrace the idealistic vision of democracy held by 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest of the victims. Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains. Floodwaters poured into downtown Brisbane, Australia, swamping neighborhoods and reaching the tops of traffic lights in some parts of the city. Actor Paul Picerni, 88, died in Palmdale, California.

One year ago: France deployed thousands of troops to protect sensitive sites, including Jewish schools and neighborhoods, in the wake of terror attacks that killed 17. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns as Ohio State won the first national title in college football's playoff era, running over Oregon, 42-20.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Katherine MacGregor (TV: "Little House on the Prairie") is 91. Singer Glenn Yarbrough is 86. The Amazing Kreskin is 81. Country singer William Lee Golden (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 77. Actor Anthony Andrews is 68. Movie director Wayne Wang is 67. Actress Kirstie Alley is 65. Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh is 65. Legal affairs blogger Ann Althouse is 65. Writer Walter Mosley is 64. Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 64. Radio-TV personality Howard Stern is 62. Writer-producer-director John Lasseter is 59. Broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour is 58. Rock musician Charlie Gillingham (Counting Crows) is 56. Actor Oliver Platt is 56. Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins is 56. Entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is 52. Rock singer Rob Zombie is 51. Actor Olivier Martinez is 50. Rapper TBird (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 49. Model Vendela is 49. Actress Farrah Forke is 48. Actress Rachael Harris is 48. Rock singer Zack de la Rocha is 46. Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 46. Singer Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay) is 43. Rock musician Matt Wong (Reel Big Fish) is 43. Singer Melanie Chisholm (Spice Girls) is 42. Contemporary Christian singer Jeremy Camp is 38. Actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Amerie is 36. Actress Naya Rivera is 29. Actor Will Rothhaar is 29. Actor Andrew Lawrence is 28. Rock singer Zayn Malik is 23. Pop/soul singer Ella Henderson (TV: "The X Factor") is 20.

Thought for Today: "Necessity does the work of courage." -- Nicholas Murray Butler, American educator and Nobel laureate (1862-1947).

Copyright 2016, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.