On This Day:
Wednesday January 4, 2012
This is the 4th day of the year, with 362 days remaining
in 2012.
Holidays
Myanmar:
Independence Day.
Feast day of St. Gregory of Langres, St. Roger of Ellant,
St. Elizabeth Bayley Seton, St. Pharaidis, and St. Rigobert
of Reims.
Events
1865
- The New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
opened its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near
Wall
Street in New
York City.
1885
- The first appendectomy was performed, by Dr.
William W. Grant of Davenport,
Iowa.
1896
- Utah
was admitted as the 45th state.
1920
- The first black baseball league, the Negro
National League, was organized by Rube
Foster.
1936
- The first pop-music chart was compiled, based on record
sales published in New
York, in "Billboard"
magazine.
1948
- Britain granted independence to Burma/Myanmar.
1951
- During the Korean
conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces
captured the city of Seoul.
United
Nations forces abandoned Seoul.
1965
- President Lyndon
Johnson outlined the goals of his "Great
Society" in his State
of the Union Address.
1974
- President Richard
Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and
documents subpoenaed by the Senate
Watergate Committee.
1991
- The UN
Security Council voted unanimously to condemn Israel's
treatment of the Palestinians
in the occupied territories.
1999
- Former professional wrestler Jesse
Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
2004
- The Constitution
of Afghanistan became the official law of Afghanistan.
Births
1643
- Sir Isaac
Newton, English scientist.
1785
- Jacob
Ludwig Grimm, German librarian; author, with his
brother, of fairy tales.
1809
- Louis
Braille, French, inventor of reading system for the
blind.
1813
- Sir Isaac
Pitman, English educator and inventor of shorthand.
1838
- Charles
Sherwood Stratton, "General Tom Thumb,"
American entertainer with PT
Barnum.
1895
- Leroy
Randle Grumman, American aeronautical engineer and
founder of Grumman
Aircraft.
1939
- Dyan
Cannon (born Samile Diane Friesen), American film and
television actress.
1941
- Maureen
Reagan, daughter of Ronald
Reagan and Jane
Wyman; step-daughter of Nancy
Reagan.
1943
- John
McLaughlin, British jazz fusion guitarist.
Deaths
1965
- T.S.
Eliot American-British poet and critic.
1986
- Christopher
Isherwood, British-American author.
2001
- Les
Brown, American orchestra leader.
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