Today in History

Today is Friday, Jan. 3, the third day of 2020. There are 363 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 3, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the United States was formally terminating diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.

On this date:

In 1777, Gen. George Washington's army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.

In 1833, Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. (Almost 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war.)

In 1868, Japan's Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of the emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns; the upheaval paved the way for Japan's drive toward becoming a modern power.

In 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

In 1938, the March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who himself had been afflicted with the crippling disease.

In 1959, Alaska became the 49th state as President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation.

In 1967, Jack Ruby, the man who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, died in a Dallas hospital.

In 1977, Apple Computer was incorporated in Cupertino, California, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkula Jr.

In 1990, ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.

In 2000, the last new daily "Peanuts" strip by Charles Schulz ran in 26-hundred newspapers.

In 2008, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won Democratic caucuses in Iowa, while Mike Huckabee won the Republican caucuses.

In 2013, students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators. The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks.

Ten years ago: The U.S. closed its embassy in Yemen, citing ongoing threats by the al-Qaida branch linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S. airliner headed to Detroit; Britain also shuttered its embassy. A Rutgers University doctoral student breached security at Newark Liberty Airport to kiss his girlfriend goodbye, prompting a six-hour shutdown. (Haisong Jiang later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and was fined.)

Five years ago: Boko Haram extremists kidnapped about 40 boys and young men and killed scores of soldiers in a bold attack on a multinational military base in northern Nigeria. Former U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke, a liberal Republican who became the first black person in U.S. history to win popular election to the Senate, died in Coral Gables, Florida, at age 95.

One year ago: China's space program achieved a lunar milestone by landing a probe on the mysterious "dark" side of the moon; a side that had been observed many times from lunar orbit but never up close. On their first day in the House majority, Democrats passed a plan to reopen the government without funding President Donald Trump's border wall. Saudi Arabia said it would seek the death penalty against five suspects in the slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Seven people, including five Louisiana children in a church van who had been headed for Disney World, were killed in a fiery crash on Interstate 75 in Florida.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Dabney Coleman is 88. Journalist-author Betty Rollin is 84. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull is 81. Singer-songwriter-producer Van Dyke Parks is 77. Musician Stephen Stills is 75. Rock musician John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) is 74. Actress Victoria Principal is 70. Actor-director Mel Gibson is 64. Actress Shannon Sturges is 52. Actor John Ales is 51. Jazz musician James Carter is 51. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 48. Musician Thomas Bangalter (Daft Punk) is 45. Actor Jason Marsden is 45. Actress Danica McKellar is 45. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez is 44. Singer Kimberley Locke (TV: "American Idol") is 42. Actress Kate Levering is 41. NFL quarterback Eli Manning is 39. Actress Nicole Beharie is 35. Pop musician Mark Pontius (Foster the People) is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lloyd is 34. Pop-rock musician Nash Overstreet (Hot Chelle Rae) is 34. Actor Alex D. Linz is 31.

Thought for Today: "Not all who wander are lost." -- J.R.R. Tolkien, English author (born this date in 1892, died in 1973).

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