Today is Tuesday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2005. There are 354 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
Two hundred years ago, on Jan. 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory was created by an act of Congress.
On this date:
In 1757, the first secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was born in the West Indies.
In 1815, Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1861, Alabama seceded from the Union.
In 1913, the first sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th Automobile Show in New York.
In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., that made her the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.
In 1942, Japan declared war against the Netherlands, the same day that Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.
In 1943, the United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.
In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one’s health.
In 1973, owners of American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.
In 1977, France set off an international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a PLO official behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Ten years ago: President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama held a low-key summit in Washington, playing down differences over trade. Fifty-two people were killed when a Colombian airliner crashed as it was preparing to land near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena; a 9-year-old girl survived.
Five years ago: Whittling away more of the federal government’s power over states, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that state employees cannot go into federal court to sue over age bias. Carlton Fisk and Tony Perez were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
One year ago: Democrat Howard Dean defended his record on race in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses, as he was forced to acknowledge that no blacks or Hispanic had served in his cabinet during his 12 years as governor of Vermont.
Today’s birthdays: Producer Grant Tinker is 79. Producer David L. Wolper is 77. Actor Rod Taylor is 75. The former prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, is 71. Actor Mitchell Ryan is 71. Rock musician Clarence Clemons is 63. Movie director Joel Zwick (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 63. Country singer Naomi Judd is 59. Golfer Ben Crenshaw is 53. Singer Robert Earl Keen is 49. Musician Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) is 47. Actress Kim Coles is 43. Actor Jason Connery is 42. Rock musician Tom Dumont (No Doubt) is 37. R&B singer Maxee Maxwell (Brownstone) is 36. Singer Mary J. Blige is 34. Musician Tom Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers) is 34. Actor Marc Blucas is 33. Actress Amanda Peet is 33.
Thought for today: “We are always getting ready to live but never living.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet and philosopher (1803-1882).