Today in History: Saturday, January 14, 2012

Today in History

Today in History: Saturday, January 14, 2012 AP Highlight in History: On Jan. 14, 2011, Tunisian protesters enraged over soaring unemployment and corruption drove President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali from power after 23 years of iron-fisted rule. AP Photo/Christophe Ena On this date in: 1639 Connecticut's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, was adopted. 1784 The United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War. 1898 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pen name Lewis Carroll, died in Guildford, England, at age 65. 1952 NBC's "Today" show premiered. Audio from the first show 1953 Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country's Parliament. 1954 Baseball player Joe Dimaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe were married at San Francisco City Hall. AP Photo 1963 George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of "segregation forever." 1970 Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. 1993 Late-night TV talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving from NBC to CBS. 1994 President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed accords in Moscow to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine. 2004 Former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to conspiracy as he accepted a 10-year prison sentence. 2004 J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. struck a deal to buy Bank One Corp. for $58 billion. 2004 President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to send astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond. 2005 Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.) 2005 A European space probe sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface of Saturn's moon, Titan. 2008 Republican Bobby Jindal, the first elected Indian-American governor in the United States, took office in Louisiana. Video Highlights of This Day in History Today's Birthdays: Director Steven Soderbergh turns 49 years old today. AP Photo/Evan Agostini Name Profession Age Jack Jones Singer 74 Allen Toussaint R&B singer, songwriter 74 Julian Bond Civil rights activist 72 Faye Dunaway Actress 71 Bev Perdue Governor of North Carolina 65 T-Bone Burnett Rock singer, producer 64 Carl Weathers Actor 64 Lawrence Kasdan Screenwriter, director 63 Maureen Dowd Columnist 60 Shepard Smith Broadcast journalist ("The Fox Report") 48 Emily Watson Actress 45 LL Cool J Rapper, actor 44 Jason Bateman Actor ("Arrested Development") 43 Dave Grohl Rock singer, musician (Foo Fighters) 43 Caleb Followill Rock musician (Kings of Leon) 30 Actress Holland Taylor turns 69 years old today. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER

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