Today in History

Today is Thursday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2023. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 5, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist Communist aggression in what became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

On this date:

In 1896, an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as X-rays.

In 1914, auto industrialist Henry Ford announced he was going to pay workers $5 for an 8-hour day, as opposed to $2.34 for a 9-hour day. (Employees still worked six days a week; the 5-day work week was instituted in 1926.)

In 1925, Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming took office as America's first female governor, succeeding her late husband, William, following a special election.

In 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Work was completed four years later.)

In 1943, educator and scientist George Washington Carver, who was born into slavery, died in Tuskegee, Alabama, at about age 80.

In 1949, in his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his administration the Fair Deal.

In 1953, Samuel Beckett's two-act tragicomedy "Waiting for Godot," considered a classic of the Theater of the Absurd, premiered in Paris.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced that he had ordered development of the space shuttle.

In 1994, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former speaker of the House of Representatives, died in Boston at age 81.

In 1998, Sonny Bono, the 1960s pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort on the Nevada-California state line; he was 62.

In 2004, foreigners arriving at U.S. airports were photographed and had their fingerprints scanned in the start of a government effort to keep terrorists out of the country.

In 2011, John Boehner was elected speaker as Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives on the first day of the new Congress.

Ten years ago: Republican Mitt Romney won the Wyoming caucuses, picking up eight delegates; in a debate three days before the New Hampshire primary, Romney clashed with Mike Huckabee on foreign policy and John McCain on immigration. In a Democratic faceoff, Hillary Rodham Clinton accused campaign rival Barack Obama of changing his positions on health care and "a number of issues"; Obama replied that he'd been "entirely consistent" in his position. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won The Associated Press 2007 NFL MVP award.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama hailed a last-minute deal with Congress that pulled the country back from the "fiscal cliff," but warned in his Saturday radio and Internet address that he would not compromise over his insistence that lawmakers lift the federal debt ceiling.

One year ago: Australia denied entry to tennis star Novak Djokovic, who was seeking to play for a 10th Australian Open title later in the month; authorities canceled his visa because he failed to meet the requirements for an exemption to COVID-19 vaccination rules. (Djokovic, a vocal skeptic of vaccines, would be confined to an immigration detention hotel as he began a court fight that eventually proved unsuccessful.) After being held out of the team's first 35 games because he refused to get vaccinated, Kyrie Irving scored 22 points for the Brooklyn Nets in his first game of the season as the team beat the Indiana Pacers 129-121 on the road; he was still unable to play in New York because of his vaccination status. The Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, scheduled for Jan. 31st, was postponed due to what organizers called "too many risks" from the omicron variant of the coronavirus. (It would be rescheduled for early April in Las Vegas.)

Today's Birthdays: Actor Robert Duvall is 92. Juan Carlos, former King of Spain, is 85. Singer-musician Athol Guy (The Seekers) is 83. Former talk show host Charlie Rose is 81. Actor-director Diane Keaton is 77. Actor Ted Lange (lanj) is 75. R&B musician George "Funky" Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 74. Rock musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 73. Former CIA Director George Tenet is 70. Actor Pamela Sue Martin is 70. Actor Clancy Brown is 64. Singer Iris Dement is 62. Actor Suzy Amis is 61. Actor Ricky Paull Goldin is 58. Actor Vinnie Jones is 58. Rock musician Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 57. Actor Joe Flanigan is 56. Talk show host/dancer-choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba is 55. Rock musician Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age) is 55. Actor Heather Paige Kent is 54. Rock singer Marilyn Manson is 54. Actor Shea Whigham is 54. Actor Derek Cecil is 50. Actor-comedian Jessica Chaffin is 49. Actor Bradley Cooper is 48. Actor January Jones is 45. Actor Brooklyn Sudano is 42. Actor Franz Drameh is 30.