Today is Tuesday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2007. There are 335 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 30, 1968, during the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive began as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals.
On this date:
In 1649, England’s King Charles I was beheaded.
In 1882, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.
In 1883, James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.
In 1933, the first episode of the “Lone Ranger” radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.
In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.
In 1962, two members of “The Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.
In 1972, 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
In 1981, an estimated 2 million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the freed American hostages from Iran.
In 2005, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Robert McCartney, 33, was killed after intervening in a pub fight between Irish Republican Army members and a friend of his.
Ten years ago: The Marine Corps opened an investigation of two videotaped hazing incidents in 1991 and 1993 known as “blood pinnings” in which elite paratroopers had golden jump pins beaten into their chests. (The 1993 incident led to a recommended discharge for a sergeant.)
Five years ago: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the U.S. would watch closely to see what Iraq, Iran and North Korea did next, a day after President Bush singled them out as part of a dangerous “axis of evil.” Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai visited the World Trade Center site and placed a wreath of yellow roses by a memorial wall as he surveyed the ruins of Sept. 11.
One year ago: Exxon Mobil posted record profits for any U.S. company: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the year. Video aired by Al-Jazeera showed kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll wearing an Islamic veil and weeping (she was released on March 30, 2006). Jennifer San Marco, an ex-postal worker, killed a former neighbor in Santa Barbara, Calif., before opening fire at a mail processing plant in Goleta, killing six people before committing suicide. Playwright Wendy Wasserstein died in New York City at age 55.
Today’s Birthdays: Comedian Dick Martin is 85. Actress Dorothy Malone is 82. Producer-director Harold Prince is 79. Actor Gene Hackman is 77. Actress Tammy Grimes is 73. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 70. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 70. Country singer Norma Jean is 69. Vice President Dick Cheney is 66. Rock singer Marty Balin is 65. Rhythm-and-blues musician William King (The Commodores) is 58. Singer Phil Collins is 56. Actor Charles S. Dutton is 56. Actress-comedian Brett Butler is 49. Singer Jody Watley is 48. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 35. Actor Christian Bale is 33. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 27. Actor Jake Thomas is 17.
Thought for Today: “It is the tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn’t know — and the less a man knows, the more sure he is that he knows everything.” — Joyce Cary, English author (1888-1957).