January 8, 2010

220 years ago
1790

Politics and government
U.S. President George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York City, then the provisional capital of the United States.

180 years ago
1830

Born on this date
Hans von Bülow. German musician, composer, and conductor. Mr. Bülow as both pianist and conductor, helped to popularize the works of composers such as Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms, and Franz Liszt. He was one of the first virtuoso conductors, working in that capacity from 1850-1893. Mr. Bülow died on February 12, 1894 at the age of 64, after several years of failing health.

140 years ago
1870

Born on this date
Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquess of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte. Prime Minister of Spain, 1923-1930. Captain General Prime de Rivera served in colonial wars in Morocco, Cuba, and the Philippines before taking power in a military coup in 1923. He established a dictatorship that he said would last for only 90 days, but he decided to stay on, resigning on January 28, 1930 after losing the support of Spain's military leaders. Prime Minister Primo de Rivera's rule alienated traditional supporters, discredited the monarchy, and contributed to the social tensions that led to the Spanish Civil War. The Marquess of Estella died from fever and diabetes on March 16, 1930 at the age of 60, less than two months after leaving office.

130 years ago
1880

Died on this date
Emperor Norton, 68. U.K.-born U.S. cultural figure. Joshua Abraham Norton, a native of London, lived in South Africa before arriving in San Francisco in 1849. He was ostensibly a businessman, but achieved notoriety as a "character," declaring himself Emperor of the United States in 1859, and adding the title Protector of Mexico in 1863. Mr. Norton collapsed and died on a sidewalk in San Francisco while on his way to attend a lecture, 27 days before his 69th birthday. 30,000 people lined the streets for his funeral.

110 years ago
1900

Born on this date
Dorothy Adams. U.S. actress. Miss Adams was a character actress in numerous plays, films, and television programs from the 1930s through 1975. She died on March 16, 1988 at the age of 88.

100 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Richard Cromwell. U.S. actor. Mr. Cromwell, born LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh, was best known for his supporting roles in the movies The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935); Jezebel (1938); and Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). He died of cancer on October 11, 1960 at the age of 50.

Galina Ulanova. U.S.S.R. ballerina. Miss Ulanova was regarded as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, dancing with the Mariinsky Theatre (1928-1944), and serving as the prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Theatre (1944-1960). She won numerous awards, and died on March 21, 1998 at the age of 88.

Hockey
CHA
All-Montreal 5 @ Quebec 1
Ottawa 14 @ Montreal Le National 4

90 years ago
1920

Labour
The U.S. steel strike, which had begun on September 22, 1919, ended in a complete failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers union.

75 years ago
1935

Born on this date
Elvis Presley. U.S. musician. The King of Rock and Roll. Click on the links to see Mark Steyn's comments on Elvis; Sam Phillips; Rock-A-Hula Baby; and It's Now or Never.

70 years ago
1940

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
Tonight’s episode: The Priory School

War
The Japanese cabinet of Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe stated any peace treaty with China must recognize Manchukuo and permit Japanese economic expansion.

Politics and government
Negotiations between government and opposition parties in Cuba failed to decide when new elections should be held.

New York Governor Herbert Lehman urged all Americans to support the foreign policy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Alabama Democratic Executive Committee adopted a resolution stating that a third term for President Roosevelt was "unwise," and then endorsed House of Representatives Speaker William Bankhead (Alabama) for the 1940 Democratic party presidential nomination.

An amendment to the Hatch Act was introduced in the United States Senate aimed at prohibiting employees of state and local governments from influencing elections.

Law
The United States Senate passed and sent to conference an alien bill providing for immediate deportation of spies.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that General Motors vice president John T. Smith could not deduct a tax loss resulting from the sale of securities to a corporation owned by himself.

Economics and finance
Food rationing began in the United Kingdom.

60 years ago
1950

Died on this date
Joseph Schumpeter, 66. Moravian-born U.S. economist. Dr. Schumpeter was Minister of Finance in the Republic of German-Austria in 1919, but was mainly an academic, teaching at the University of Bonn (1925-1932) and Harvard University (1932-1950). His best-known book was Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942), in which he predicted that capitalism would lead to corporatism and then socialism.

Diplomacy
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, concluded a 13-month stay in the United States with a farewell radio broadcast, claiming that the nationalists would continue to fight the Chinese Communists, and attacking British recognition of the Communist government.

Politics and government
Seth Richardson, head of the U.S. President's Loyalty Review Board, urged that the board be made permanent to in order to check the loyalty of new federal employees. He reported that loyalty investigations over the past two years had resulted in only 139 dismissals.

50 years ago
1960

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (4th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: Third from the Sun, starring Fritz Weaver, Edward Andrews, and Joe Maross

Politics and government
Antonio Barrette, Labour Minister of Quebec in the province's Union Nationale since 1944, was sworn in as Premier, succeeding Paul Sauvé, who had died from a brain hemorrhage six days earlier.

40 years ago
1970

On television tonight
Dragnet 1970, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Narco: Missing Hypo



Died on this date
Georges Guibourg, 78. French entertainer. Mr. Guiborg, aka Georgius, was one of France's most popular cabaret entertainers in the 1930s and '40s.

Jani Christou, 44. Egyptian-born Greek composer. Mr. Christou, whose birthday was also said in some sources to have been January 9, 1926, wrote two symphonies and several oratorios, most of them based on classical Greek literature. He was killed in a car accident in Athens on or the day before his 44th birthday.

Space
A four-day conference on lunar science concluded in Houston. Dr. Robert Jastrow of the Institute of Space Study in New York told the 800 scientists in attendance that a fiery cataclysm in the solar system more than 3.5 billion years ago melted much of the moon and incinerated the Earth, and that if life had begun to evolve on Earth, it was wiped out by this catastrophe and had to begin again. Dr. Jastrow said that more than 1 billion years of Earth's history disappeared in the explosion: "Chemical evolution must have begun again at 3,500,000,000 years after being wiped out." He continued, "The moon contains earlier records of the solar system's history than are found on the Earth. The moon can roll back the curtains of history of the solar system and our own planet...that have been concealed from our view up to now."

War
American negotiators at the Paris peace talks on the Vietnam War proposed that formal sessions alternate with informal restricted talks. The Communists rejected the suggestion as a "perfidious maneuver" and asked for private meetings between the Americans and Viet Cong.

Private Gerald A. Smith, 22, stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, and Sergeant Charles E. Hutto, 21, stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, were charged with premeditated murder in the My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968.

Religion
In a statement distributed to Mormon leaders around the world, the top leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints reaffirmed its ban on Negroes in the priesthood. All other Mormon men were expected to join the priesthood.

Protest
Negroes were reported to be organizing boycotts of white merchants charged with supporting all-white private schools being set up in some Mississippi counties to avoid the public school desegregation ordered by the courts.

Disasters
A bus and truck crash near Montes Calaros, Brazil, killed 23 and injured countless others.

30 years ago
1980

Defense
U.S. Defense Secretary Harold Brown announced that the United States would sell China a ground station for receiving information from the Landsat Earth Resources Satellite, a move with possible military applications.

Labour
The International Longshoremen’s Association told its members to stop handling Soviet ships.

20 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Christmas Eve--Tatsuro Yamashita (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Another Day in Paradise--Phil Collins (6th week at #1)

Died on this date
Terry-Thomas, 78. U.K. actor. Born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens, Terry-Thomas, with his gap-toothed smile, moustache, distinctive speech, and frequent use of cigarette holder and monocle, provided the definitive image of the upper class English cad in movies such as Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959); I'm All Right, Jack (1960); Make Mine Mink (1960); Its' a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963); How to Murder Your Wife (1965); and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). His last years were not pleasant, as he developed Parkinson's Disease and lived in poverty before a fund-raising project by fellow actors allowed him to move to a nursing home.

Diplomacy
Canada formally joined the Organization of American States (OAS) as its 33rd member.

World events
An official of the East German government disclosed that 60,000 of an original 85,000 secret police personnel were still on the government payroll despite a promise in December that they would be disbanded.

Economics and finance
In the first shift downward in six months, major banks in the United States lowered their prime lending rate by 0.5% to 10%.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 8 Washington 6

10 years ago
2000

Football
NFL
AFC Wild Card Playoff
Buffalo 16 @ Tennessee 22

Kevin Dyson took a cross-field lateral from Frank Wycheck and returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown with 3 seconds remaining in regulation time to give the Titans the victory before 66,782 fans at Adelphia Stadium in Nashville. The dramatic play came after Steve Christie kicked a 41-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining to give the Bills a 16-13 lead.

See video.

NFC Wild Card Playoff
Detroit 13 @ Washington 27