Today is Sunday, Jan. 22, the 22nd day of 2006. There are 343 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 22, 1917, President Wilson pleaded for an end to war in Europe, calling for “peace without victory.” (By April, however, America also was at war.)
On this date:
In 1901, Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 82.
In 1905, Thousands of demonstrating Russian workers were fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as “Red Sunday” or “Bloody Sunday.”
In 1922, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius IX.
In 1938, Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” was performed publicly for the first time, in Princeton, N.J.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.
In 1957, suspected “Mad Bomber” George P. Metesky was arrested in Waterbury, Conn. (He was later found mentally ill and committed to a mental hospital until 1973.)
In 1973, the Supreme Court handed down its “Roe v. Wade” decision, which legalized abortion using a trimester approach.
In 1973, former President Johnson died at age 64.
In 1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104.
In 1998, Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty in Sacramento, Calif., to being the Unabomber in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Ten years ago: The White House announced that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had been subpoenaed by the Whitewater special prosecutor to testify before a grand jury investigating the mysterious discovery of her law firm billing records in the White House residence. O.J. Simpson testified for the first time since the killings of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend, Ronald Goldman, as he gave a videotaped deposition for a wrongful death lawsuit.
Five years ago: On the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, President Bush signed a memorandum reinstating full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid. Four of the seven convicts who’d broken out of a Texas prison the previous month were captured southwest of Denver; a fifth inmate killed himself.
One year ago: The Iraqi government pledged to do everything in its power to protect voters from insurgent attacks during upcoming elections, as militants announced they’d killed 15 captive Iraqi National Guardsmen for cooperating with the Americans. Friends and family bade farewell to 10 people killed when a mudslide damaged more than two dozen homes in La Conchita, Calif. President Nixon’s former secretary, Rose Mary Woods, died in Alliance, Ohio, at age 87. “Besame Mucho” songwriter Consuelo Velazquez died at age 84.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ill., is 78. Actress Piper Laurie is 74. Actor Seymour Cassel is 71. Author Joseph Wambaugh is 69. Actor John Hurt is 66. Country singer-musician Teddy Gentry (Alabama) is 54. Movie director Jim Jarmusch is 53. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Mike Bossy is 49. Actress Linda Blair is 47. Actress Diane Lane is 41. Actor-rap DJ Jazzy Jeff is 41. Country singer Regina Nicks (Regina Regina) is 41. Actress Olivia d’Abo is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Marc Gay (Shai) is 37. Actor Gabriel Macht is 34. Actor Balthazar Getty is 31. Actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson is 26. Pop singer Willa Ford is 25. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kelton Kessee (IMX) is 25. Actress Beverley Mitchell is 25. Rock singer-musician Ben Moody is 25.
Thought for Today: “Would to God that we might spend a single day really well.” — Thomas a Kempis, German monk and author (c. 1380-1471).