Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2020. There are 359 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 7, 2004, President George W. Bush proposed legal status, at least temporarily, for millions of immigrants improperly working in the U.S.

On this date:

In 1789, America held its first presidential election as voters chose electors who, a month later, selected George Washington to be the nation's first chief executive.

In 1904, the Marconi International Marine Communication Company of London announced that the telegraphed letters "CQD" would serve as a maritime distress call (it was later replaced with "SOS").

In 1927, commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.

In 1953, President Truman announced in his State of the Union message to Congress that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.

In 1959, the United States recognized the new government of Cuba, six days after Fidel Castro led the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1972, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and William H. Rehnquist were sworn in as the 99th and 100th members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

In 1989, Emperor Hirohito of Japan died in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.

In 1999, for the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate. President Bill Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted.

In 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and nine U.S. senators swept into Bargam Air Base in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit and promised Afghan leaders their full support in rebuilding the shattered country.

In 2006, Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped and her translator shot dead in Baghdad. (Carroll was freed almost three months later.)

Ten years ago: A worker for a transformer-making company in St. Louis showed up at the plant and opened fire, killing three people and wounding five before killing himself. Thousands of Egyptian Christians went on a rampage after six members of their community were gunned down as they left midnight Mass for Coptic Christians in the southern Egyptian town of Nag Hamadi. No. 1 Alabama held on for a 37-21 win over No. 2 Texas in the BCS championship played in Pasadena, California.

Five years ago: Masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French newspaper that had caricatured the Prophet Mohammad, methodically killing 12 people, including the editor, before escaping in a car. (Two suspects were killed two days later.) Actor Rod Taylor 82, died in Los Angeles.

One year ago: Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded not guilty in Nantucket, Massachusetts, to groping an 18-year-old busboy in 2016 in the first criminal case brought against Spacey following a string of sexual misconduct allegations. Second-ranked Clemson defeated No. 1 Alabama 44-16 in the national championship game of the college football playoffs; Clemson became the first team in the AP poll era, dating back to 1936, to finish 15-0. For the first time in more than 25 years, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was absent from oral arguments as she recuperated from cancer surgery. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam granted clemency to 30-year-old Cyntoia Brown, who said she was a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim when she killed a man in 2004. Amazon eclipsed Microsoft as the most valuable publicly-traded company in the U.S.

Today's Birthdays: Magazine publisher Jann Wenner is 74. Singer Kenny Loggins is 72. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 71. Actress Erin Gray is 70. Actor Sammo Hung is 68. Actress Jodi Long is 66. Actor David Caruso is 64. Talk show host Katie Couric is 63. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 61. Rock musician Kathy Valentine is 61. Actor David Marciano is 60. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is 59. Actress Hallie Todd is 58. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is 57. Actor Nicolas Cage is 56. Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting) is 55. Actor Rex Lee is 51. Actor Doug E. Doug is 50. Actor Kevin Rahm is 49. Actor Jeremy Renner is 49. Country singer-musician John Rich is 46. Actor Dustin Diamond is 43. Actor Reggie Austin is 41. Singer-rapper Aloe Blacc is 41. Actress Lauren Cohan is 38. Actor Brett Dalton is 37. Actor Robert Ri'chard is 37. Actress Lyndsy Fonseca is 33. Actor Liam Aiken is 30. Actress Camryn Grimes is 30. Actor Max Morrow is 29. Actor Marcus Scribner is 20.

Thought for Today: "One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present." -- Golda Meir, Israeli prime minister (1898-1978).

Copyright 2020, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.