Today in History - Jan. 12

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Today is Monday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2009. There are 353 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

Fifty years ago, on Jan. 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally called Tamla Records) in Detroit.

 

In 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died.

In 1773, the first public museum in America was organized, in Charleston, S.C.

In 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.

In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, after serving out the remainder of the term of her late husband, Thaddeus.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt re-established the National War Labor Board.

In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that state law schools could not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U.S. should stay in South Vietnam until communist aggression there was ended.

In 1969, the New York Jets of the American Football League upset the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League 16-7 in Super Bowl III, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

In 1976, mystery writer Dame Agatha Christie died in Wallingford, England, at age 85.

In 1986, the shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.

Ten years ago: The Supreme Court limited state regulation of voter initiatives, striking down several methods used by Colorado to police such measures. Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox forged agreement on the contentious issues of immigration and Iraq, meeting in Monterrey before the opening of a 34-nation hemispheric summit. Singer-songwriter Randy VanWarmer died in Seattle at age 48.

One year ago: President George W. Bush, visiting Bahrain, said he was cheered by news that Iraq's parliament had approved legislation reinstating thousands of former supporters of Saddam Hussein's dissolved Baath party to government jobs.

Thought for Today: "Give the people a new word and they think they think they have a new fact." — Willa Cather, American author (1873-1947).