January 8th in History

Michael Dobson | January 8

 Today in History

  • The Grimaldi family takes over Monaco (1297)
  • War of 1812: Andrew Jackson leads American forces to victory in the Battle of New Orleans, unaware that a peace treaty had been signed (1815)
  • The US National Debt becomes $0 for the only time (1835)
  • African-American men get the vote in Washington, DC (1867)
  • Herman Hollerith patents the punched card calculator (1889)
  • Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” (1918)
  • LBJ declares war on poverty (1964)
  • Watergate: The trial of the Watergate Seven begins (1973)
  • AT&T agrees to the breakup of the Bell System (1982)
  • The Heisei era begins in Japan following the ascension of Akihito to the Chrysanthemum Throne (1989)
  • Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others are shot in Casas Adobes, Arizona (2011)

Birthdays

  • James Longstreet, Confederate general (1821)
  • Alfred Russel Wallace, evolutionary theorist (1821)
  • Wilkie Collins, novelist (1824)
  • Albert Bierstadt, painter (1830)
  • Frank Nelson Doubleday, publisher (1862)
  • Georgy Malenkov, Soviet leader (1902 [O .S. December 26, 1901])
  • Carl Rogers, psychologist (1902)
  • William Hartnell, first Doctor (1908)
  • Evelyn Wood, speed reading teacher (1909)
  • Gypsy Rose Lee, ecdysiast and mystery writer (1911)
  • José Ferrer, actor (1912)
  • Larry Storch, actor (1923)
  • Soupy Sales, comedian (1926)
  • Bill Graham, rock impresario (1931)
  • Charles Osgood, journalist (1933)
  • Elvis Presley, rock musician (1935)
  • Shirley Bassey, singer (1937)
  • Bob Eubanks, game show host (1938)
  • Graham Chapman, Monty Python member (1941)
  • Boris Vallejo, fantasy artist (1941)
  • Stephen Hawking, physicist (1941)
  • Yvette Mimieux, actress (1942)
  • Terry Brooks, fantasy author (1944)
  • Robbie Krieger, Doors guitarist and songwriter (1946)
  • David Bowie, singer-songwriter (1947)
  • R. Kelly, singer-songwriter and producer (1967)
  • Kim Jong-un, North Korean supreme leader (1983)

Deaths

  • Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1642)
  • Thomas Aikenhead, last person executed for blasphemy in England (1697)
  • John Baskerville, type designer (1775)
  • Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin (1825)
  • Emperor Norton, self-declared Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico (1880)
  • Paul Verlaine, poet (1896)
  • Robert Baden-Powell, founder of Scouting (1941)
  • Joseph Schumpeter, economist (1950)
  • Richard Tucker, tenor (1975)
  • Zhou Enlai, Chinese premier (1976)
  • Terry-Thomas, actor (1990)
  • Pat Buttram, actor (1994)
  • François Mitterand, French president (1996)
  • Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s (2002)
  • Yvonne De Carlo, actress (2007)
  • Art Clokey, creator of Gumby (2010)

Holidays and Celebrations —

  • Babinden (Belarus)
  • Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
  • National English Toffee Day (US food holidays)
  • Typing Day (international)

Informal and made-up holidays include Argyle Day, Bubble Bath Day, Earth’s Rotation Day, Male Watcher’s Day, National Joy Germ Day, and Show and Tell at Work Day.

January 8 is the 8th day of the year. There are 357 days (358 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year. O.S., or Old Style, when used, refers to the fact that Russia did not convert from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918.