Today is Tuesday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2007. There are 328 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Ill.
On this date:
In 1756, America’s third vice president, Aaron Burr, was born in Newark, N.J.
In 1778, the U.S. won official recognition from France with the signing of treaties in Paris.
In 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate.
In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the so-called “lame duck” amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson.
In 1952, Britain’s King George VI died; he was succeeded as reigning monarch by his daughter, Elizabeth II.
In 1959, the United States successfully test-fired for the first time a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral.
In 1987, Wall Street Journal reporter Gerald Seib was released after being detained six days by Iran, accused of being a spy for Israel; Iran said the detention was a result of misunderstandings.
In 1992, 16 people were killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashed in Evansville, Ind.
In 1996, a Turkish-owned Boeing 757 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing 189 people, mostly German tourists.
Ten years ago: President Clinton sent Congress a $1.69 trillion budget for fiscal 1998, saying it would erase deficits by 2002 and for 20 years beyond; Republicans scoffed that the plan was brimming with costly new programs and phantom savings, but said they were ready to bargain.
Five years ago: A federal judge ordered John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” held without bail pending trial. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II reached a bittersweet milestone, somberly marking 50 years as monarch on the anniversary of the death of her father, King George VI.
One year ago: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui disrupted the opening of his sentencing trial in Alexandria, Va., and was tossed out of court. Hundreds of protesters hurled stones and fire bombs at the Danish Embassy in Tehran to denounce published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. President Bush submitted a $2.77 trillion budget blueprint for fiscal 2007. Stephen Harper was sworn in as Canada’s 22nd prime minister. Isabelle Dinoire, the Frenchwoman who’d received the world’s first partial face transplant, showed off her new features at a news conference.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is 90. Actor Patrick Macnee is 85. Actor Rip Torn is 76. Actress Mamie Van Doren is 76. Actor Mike Farrell is 68. Former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw is
67. Singer Fabian is 64. Actress Gayle Hunnicutt is 64. Actor Michael Tucker is 63. Producer-director-writer Jim Sheridan is 58. Singer Natalie Cole is 57. Actor Jon Walmsley is 51. Actress Kathy Najimy is 50. Rock musician Simon Phillips (Toto) is 50. Actor-director Robert Townsend is 50. Actor Barry Miller is 49. Actress Megan Gallagher is 47. Rock singer Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses) is 45. Country singer Richie McDonald (Lonestar) is 45. Singer Rick Astley is 41. Rock musician Tim Brown (Boo Radleys) is 38. Actor Brandon Hammond is 23.
Thought for Today: “If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.” — Stanley Kubrick, American movie director (1928-1999).