1643 - The first divorce was granted, by Quarter Court, Boston, MA:  “Anne Clarke, beeing deserted by Denis Clarke hir husband and, and hee refusing to accompany with hir, she is graunted to bee divorced, his refusal was under his hand, and seale, which hee gave before Mr. John Winthrop, Junr. Mr. Emanuel Downing, Mr. Nehemiah Bo'ne (Bourne) and Richard Babington, alsoe hee confsseth hee liveth in adultery with one, by whom he hath had 2 and refuseth hir which hee had two children by.”
    1776 – New Hampshire is the first state to adopt a constitution.
    1779 - American naval officer Stephen Decatur’s birthday (whose father and grandfather, both also named Stephen Decatur, were also seafaring men), at Sinepuxent, Maryland.  In a toast at a dinner in Norfolk in 1815, Decatur spoke his most famous words, quoted often today by both men and women in the military," Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong." This has been slightly changed to modern times, but that was the original quote. Dueling was "popular" to settle arguments in early America where everyone had a gun and used it. Mortally wounded in a duel with Commodore James Barton, at Bladensburg, Maryland, on the morning of March 22, 1820, Decatur was carried to his home in Washington where he died a few hours later.
    1779 – Zebulon Pike was born in Lamberton, NJ.  He was a brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak is named. As a US Army captain in 1806–1807, he led the expedition, sent out by President Jefferson, to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Territory and to find the headwaters of the Red River, during which he recorded the discovery of what later was called Pikes Peak. The Pike expedition coincided with other Jefferson expeditions including the Lewis and Clark (1804-1806) and the Freeman and Custis (1806). The Pike Expedition traveled through present-day Colorado after his party confused their location. This led to capture by Spanish, who sent Pike and his men to Chihuahua, present-day Mexico and questioned by the governor. They were released later in 1807 at the border of Louisiana.  Pike died in Canada in 1813.
    1781 - British naval expedition led by former American General Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, VA.
http://www.lbdb.com/TMDisplayLeader.cfm?PID=5759
    1794 - Birthday of the Southern agriculturist, Edmund Ruffin, at Prince George County, VA. His discoveries of crop rotation and fertilizer, learned from journals of George Washington, were influential in the early agrarian culture of the US. He published the Farmer's Register from 1833 to 1842, a journal that promoted scientific agriculture. A noted politician as well as a farmer, he was an early advocate of Southern secession whose views were widely circulated in pamphlets. As a member of the Palmetto Guards of Charleston, he was given the honor of firing the first shot on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. After the South's defeat, he became despondent and, wrapping himself in the Confederate flag, took his own life on June 18, 1865, at Amerlia County, VA, writing in his diary the reason: “...I here repeat and would willingly proclaim my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule--to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, and the perfidious, malignant and vile Yankee race."
http://www.dixienet.org/spatriot/lastwrds.html
http://www.oldnewspublishing.com/edmund.htm
    1804 - Ohio legislature passes first laws restricting free blacks movement.
    1835 - It was a record cold morning in the eastern U.S. The temperature plunged to 23 degrees below zero on the Yale campus in New Haven, CT and to 40 degrees below zero in the Berkshire Hills of Connecticut.
    1836 - Davy Crockett arrives in Texas to join others to fight for freedom from Mexico.
http://www.americanwest.com/pages/davycroc.htm
    1838 - President Martin Van Buren issues a neutrality proclamation forbidding US citizens from taking part in the Canadian insurrection. The privately-owned US steamship Caroline, leased by Canadian revolutionaries, has been destroyed by Canadian militiamen on 29 December. President Van Buren orders General Winfield Scott to post militiamen along the Canadian frontier.
    1846 - Boldly reversing its long-standing policy of "free and open" occupation in the disputed Oregon Territory, the U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution calling for an end to British-American sharing of the region. The British agreed to abandon their claim to the area north of the Columbia and accept the 49th parallel as a border. The Hudson Bay Company already had decided to relocate its principal trading post from the Columbia River area to Vancouver Island, leaving the British with little interest in maintaining their claim to area. Despite the cries of betrayal from the advocates of the 54th parallel, Polk wisely accepted the British offer to place the border on the 49th parallel. The new boundary not only gave the U.S. more territory than it had any legitimate claim to, but it also left Polk free to pursue his next objective: a war with Mexico for control of the Southwest.
    1861 - Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan and Gaines at Mobile Bay
    1861 - 250 Federal troops are sent from New York to Fort Sumter
    1874 – Joseph Erlanger was born in San Francisco.  A physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience, with Herbert Spencer Gasser, he identified several varieties of nerve fiber and established the relationship between action potential velocity and fiber diameter. Among their experiments was shock therapy.  They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for these achievements.  Erlanger died in 1965
    1875 - President Grant sends federal troops to Vicksburg, Miss.
    1882 - Herbert Bayard Swope was born in St. Louis.  Editor and journalist, Swope spent most of his career at the New York World newspaper. He was the first and three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting.  He is known for saying, "I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time." He is also credited with coining the phrase, "Cold War".  He was the first newspaperman to employ the “op-ed” concept of opinion pieces printed opposite the editorial page.  Swope died in 1958.
    1884 - A severe arctic outbreak hit the Midwest, sending Des Moines to a low of 30 degrees below zero and Indianapolis to a low reading of 25 degrees below zero. Peoria, Illinois had a record low reading of 27 degrees below zero.
    1885 - Revolutionizing produce delivery, the first piggyback railroad operation began on the Long Island Rail Road in New York State. A produce train, consisting of eight flatcars for carrying farmers' wagons, eight cars to carry their horses, and a coach for teamsters, left Albertson's station, railroad station on Long Island. It arrived at 6:30am at Long Island City, where a ferry carried the wagons across the East River to New York City.
    1887 - 1st US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University.
    1895 – Guitarist/Singer/Composer Elizabeth Cotten was born near Chapel Hill, North Carolina; one of America's great early female folk singers. http://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/nonfiction/demerlee.html
    1895 - Jeannette Ridlon Piccard’s birthday in Chicago.  She was the first woman to qualify as a free balloon pilot (1934). One of the first women to be ordained an Episcopal priest (1976). Pilot for record-setting balloon ascent into stratosphere (from Dearborn, MI, Oct 23, 1934) at 57,579 feet with her husband Jean Felix Piccard. Identical twin married to identical twin. Died at Minneapolis, MN, May 17, 1981.
    1896 - The Die Presse newspaper (Germany) publicly announces Wilhelm Rontgen’s discovery of X-rays and their potential for new methods of medical diagnoses in a front-page article.
    1903 – Telegraph service between San Francisco and Honolulu began.   
    1904 - 34ºF (-36.7ºC), River Vale NJ (state record)
    1904 - 42ºF (-41.1ºC), Smethport PA (state record)
    1904 – Astrologer Jeanne Dixon was born in Medford, WI.  One of the best-known American astrologers and psychics of the 20th century, due to her syndicated newspaper astrology column, some well-publicized predictions, and a best-selling biography.  She professed to be a devout Roman Catholic and attributed her prophetic ability to God. A million seller, “My Life and Prophecies”, was credited "as told to Rene Noorbergen", but Dixon was sued by Adele Fletcher, who claimed that her rejected manuscript was rewritten and published as that book. Fletcher was awarded five percent of the royalties by a jury. President Nixon followed her predictions through his secretary, Rose Mary Woods, and met with her in the Oval Office at least once, in 1971. The following year, her prediction of terrorist attacks in the United States in the wake of the Munich massacre spurred Nixon to set up a cabinet committee on counterterrorism.  She was one of several astrologers who gave advice to Nancy Reagan.  Dixon died in 1997 in DC.
    1905 - National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals a non-profit, environmental organization dedicated to conservation incorporates.  William Dutcher was president, and T. Gilbert Pearson was secretary and financial agent.
    1906 – Trumpet player Wild Bill Davison birthday
http://www.jazzcanadiana.on.ca/_DAVIDS.htm
http://www.mp3.com/wild-bill-davison/artists/21106/biography.html
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15926
    1906 - Trumpet player Wendell Culley Birthday
http://www.mp3.com/Wendell-Culley/artists/52196/biography.html
http://rewards.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,419191,00.html?
artist=Wendell+Culley.  Perhaps best known for his solo on “Lil Darlin'”, also played with Lionel Hampton and featured on “Airmail Special” and “Midnight Sun.”   He alternated between third and lead trumpet player (the third trumpet player is always the alternate lead trumpet player and often the first and third switch during a tune for many reasons, including they play the highest notes---until Stan Kenton introduced Maynard Ferguson and others brought on “screamers.”)
One of the best Basie albums with Culley:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?j=1andCategoryID=cat02007andid
=64000andskuId=1935838andtype=productandref=25and
loc=SMXandDCMP=
KNC-TLC (Listen to “Whirly Bird.” Neal Hefti was the arranger here, one of Frank Sinatra's favorites, too.)
    1913 - The record low temperature for the state of Utah was set at Strawberry Tunnel. The thermometer plunged to 50 degrees below zero.
    1914 - Henry Ford announced that all that all Ford Motor Company employees would receive a minimum wage of $5 a day. This was a major move in its day as wages went from $2.40 for a 9-hour day to $5.00 for an 8-hour day. Ford explained the policy as “profit sharing and efficiency engineering.” The more cynical attributed it to an attempt to prevent unionization and to obtain a docile workforce that would accept job speedups. To obtain the minimum wage an employee had to be of “good personal habits.” Whether an individual fit these criteria was determined by a new office created by Ford Motor Company---the Sociological Department.
    1914 – “Superman”, George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer in Woolstock, IA.  His death at age 45 from a gunshot remains a polarizing issue; the official finding was suicide, but some believe he was murdered or the victim of an accidental shooting.  It also formed the story line in the 2006 movie, “Hollywoodland.”
    1917 - Jane Wyman, American actress (“Magnificent Obsession”) and first wife of Ronald Reagan, was born in St. Joseph, Missouri.  She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Johnny Belinda” (1948), and later in life achieved a new level of success in the 1980s on “Falcon Crest”. She died in 2007.
    1918 - Canadian clarinetist and bandleader Dal Richards was born in Vancouver. Richards was music director and bandleader at the Hotel Vancouver's Panorama Roof for 25 years, from 1940 to 1965. Among the vocalists with his band was his wife, Lorraine McAllister. Richards also became a familiar figure during halftime shows at BC Lions football games.
    1923 - Sam Phillips, owner of the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, was born in Florence, Alabama. Many music historians say Sun was where rock 'n' roll began. Certainly, Phillips was the first to record the black-influenced music of such young white singers as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins in 1954. Phillips began by recording such black artists as Howlin' Wolf and Jackie Brenston, whose "Rocket '88" from 1951 is often cited as the first rock 'n' roll record. But Phillips had also dreamed of finding a white singer who could sing in a black style - and in 1954 he did. Elvis Presley recorded five hit singles for Sun before Phillips sold his contract to RCA in 1956 for $35,000.  Phillips sold Sun Records in 1969, but he had already assured his place in rock history. The original Sun Studio on Union Avenue in Memphis is now open as a tourist attraction. Much of the soundtrack for the 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis film biography "Great Balls of Fire" was recorded there.
    1925 - Nellie Taylor (Mrs. William B) Ross became the first woman to serve as governor upon her inauguration in Wyoming. She had previously finished out the term of her husband, who died in office. In 1974, Ella Grasso of Connecticut became the first woman to be elected governor.
    1926 - Claude (Buddy) Young was born in Chicago.  The 5'4" Young, also known as the "Bronze Bullet," had exceptional quickness and acceleration. He is one of the shortest men ever to play NFL football.  In football, three of the most talented minority athletes during the war years were Bill Willis, Marion Motley and Young.  His 10-year pro career saw him with the NY Yankees of the AAFL, who became the NY Yanks that were absorbed into the NFL, who then moved to Dallas and became the Texans in 1951.  In 1952, the team moved again and became the Baltimore Colts (of later Unitas fame) and retired with them in 1955.  Young died in 1983.
    1926 – Robert Earle was born in Baldwin, NY.  He was the former host of “G.E. College Bowl” during its entire NBC run, from 1962 to 1970.  In the early 1950s, Earle was also an announcer and news anchor for a Utica, NY television station WKTV. After he left the station, he was replaced at the anchor desk by another up-and-coming television personality, Dick Clark.
    1927 - Judge Landis begins 3-day public hearing on charges that 4 games played between Chicago and Detroit in 1917 had been thrown to White Sox.
    1928 – Former Vice-President Walter Mondale was born in Ceylon, MN. 
    1930 – Bonnie Parker meets Clyde Barrow for the first time at Clarence Clay's house.
    1931 – The first woman to purchase a baseball team, Lucille Thomas, purchases the Topeka franchise in the Western League
    1931 – Actor Robert Duvall was born in San Diego.  He served in the Korean War and used the GI Bill to begin drama studies.  After a modest career on and off Broadway, followed by bits parts in such films as “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Bullitt”, and “True Grit”, he landed a meaty part as Major Frank Burns in “M*A*S*H*”, for which he drew considerable attention.  His portrayal as the family consigliere Tom Hagen in “The Godfather” earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and the reprise in “The Godfather, Part II”.        
    1932 – Former Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach and former Cleveland Browns guard Chuck Noll was born in Cleveland.  In 1969, he took over a perennially awful franchise and turned it into a perennial contender. As head coach, won nine AFC Central Division championships and he compiled a 209-156-1 record in all games, including a 16-8-0 post-season record, and had winning records in 15 of his final 20 seasons. He has more Super Bowl victories, 4, than any other head coach in NFL history. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993, his first year of eligibility.  Noll was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1953, where he played until his retirement in 1959. During his first year, the Browns lost to the Detroit Lions in the NFL championship. The next two years the Browns were NFL champions.  Coach Paul Brown used Noll as one of his "messenger guards" to send play calls to the quarterback (beginning with Otto Graham). Brown recalled that Noll soon "could have called the plays himself without any help from the bench. That's how smart he was."  Noll died in 2014 near Pittsburgh.
   1933 - Prohibition was repealed. The Twenty-First Amendment was adopted when it was ratified by Utah, the 36th state to do so. Prohibition in the U.S. was thereby repealed.
    1933 - The Golden Gate Bridge, that spans the channel at the entrance to the San Francisco Bay, went under construction. When finished, it was called an engineering marvel.
    1934 - Both baseball's National and American Leagues decided to use a standard size baseball, making it the first time in 33 years they both used the same size ball.
    1934 - Fenway Park catches fire for 2nd time (May 8th 1926 also).
    1940 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) heard FM radio for the first time. The new medium of FM, free of interference and static, was developed by Major E.H. Armstrong. In 1941, the first FM transmitter was put in operation.
    1941 - Carmen Miranda recorded Decca record #23210, "Chica Chica Boom Chic". She sang the song in the film, "That Night in Rio".      
    1942 - John B. Hughes of the Mutual Broadcasting Company opens an attack on Japanese Americans in California. He charges they are engaged in espionage and their dominance in produce production and control of the food supply are part of a master war plan.
http://bss.sfsu.edu/tygiel/Hist427/1940sphotos/internment/internment.htm
http://www.janm.org/projects/clasc/resources.htm
    1942 – American television talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose was born in Henderson, NC.
    1943 - *WALKER, KENNETH N., (Air Mission) Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Brigadier General, U.S. Army Air Corps, Commander of V Bomber Command. Place and date: Rabaul, New Britain, 5 January 1943. Entered service at. Colorado. Birth: Cerrillos, N. Mex. G.O. No.: 13, 11 March 1943. Citation: For conspicuous leadership above and beyond the call of duty involving personal valor and intrepidity at an extreme hazard to life. As commander of the 5th Bomber Command during the period from 5 September 1942, to 5 January 1943, Brig. Gen. Walker repeatedly accompanied his units on bombing missions deep into enemy-held territory. From the lessons personally gained under combat conditions, he developed a highly efficient technique for bombing when opposed by enemy fighter airplanes and by antiaircraft fire. On 5 January 1943, in the face of extremely heavy antiaircraft fire and determined opposition by enemy fighters, he led an effective daylight bombing attack against shipping in the harbor at Rabaul, New Britain, which resulted in direct hits on 9 enemy vessels. During this action his airplane was disabled and forced down by the attack of an overwhelming number of enemy fighters.
    1945 – In Japan, young pilots become Kamikaze, or "Divine Wind."  The suicidal blitz of the Kamikazes revealed Japan's desperation in the final months of World War II. Most of Japan's top pilots were dead, but youngsters needed little training to take planes full of explosives and crash them into ships. At Okinawa, they sank 30 ships and killed almost 5,000 Americans, including “human” torpedoes who made sure they found their target. The war in Iraq with suicide bombers is very similar.
    1945 - Admiral Smith leads a force of cruisers and destroyers to shell Iwo Jima, Haha Jima and Chichi Jima. There is a simultaneous attack by USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombers.
    1945 - Admiral McCrea leads three cruisers and nine destroyers to bombard Suribachi Wan in the Kuriles.
    1946 – Actress Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall in LA.  Her first major film role was in “The Godfather” (1972), but the films that shaped her early career were those with director and co-star Woody Allen, beginning with “Play It Again, Sam” in 1972. Her next two films with Allen, “Sleeper” (1973) and “Love and Death” (1975), established her as a comic actor. Her fourth, “Annie Hall” (1977), won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.  Keaton subsequently expanded her range to avoid becoming typecast as her Annie Hall persona:  “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” (1977) and received Academy Award nominations for “Reds” (1981) and “Marvin’s Room” (1996).  Keaton's films have earned a cumulative gross of over US$1.1 billion in North America. In addition to acting, she is also a photographer, real estate developer, author, and occasional singer.
    1947 - Birthday of Kathy Switzer, American athlete, who had been refused permission to enter the Boston Marathon but got a number in 1967 as K. Switzer. While racing she was discovered to be a girl. Front page photos seen throughout the world, show race officials chasing her, trying to pull her number off. She outmaneuvered them with the help of a couple of male runners and finished the race. As a member of the Syracuse University track team, she was promptly suspended from the Amateur Athletic Union for "running without a chaperon!" It wasn't until five years later that women were officially allowed to run in the race with men. In 1979 KS began organizing women's racing meets.
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/tindall/timelinf/marathon.htm
    1948 - Movie theater audiences were given a treat when Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel, with pictures of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.
    1951 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Ponte Vedra Beach Women's Golf Open.
    1955 - A song from a "Studio One" production took over the #1 spot on the pop music charts. For four weeks, Joan Weber's, "Let Me Go, Lover", maintained the top spot on the hit parade. Before airing on television, the song had been heard on a limited basis, under a different title, was "Let Me Go, Devil".
    1955 - Lavern Baker's "Tweedle Dee" enters the R and B chart. It will later peak at #4 and become the first of Baker's 13 R and B Top Twenty hits.
    1956 - Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"
    1956 - Screen actress Grace Kelly announced to the press her marriage engagement to Monaco's Prince Ranier III.
    1957 - Top Hits
“Singing the Blues” - Guy Mitchell
“The Green Door” - Jim Lowe
“Blueberry Hill” - Fats Domino
“Singing the Blues” - Marty Robbins
    1957 – Brooklyn Dodgers' Jackie Robinson retires rather than be traded to New York Giants.  During the 1956 season, he had begun to exhibit the effects of diabetes, and to lose interest in the prospect of playing or managing professional baseball.  Unbeknownst to the Dodgers, Robinson had already agreed with the president of Chock Full o’ Nuts to quit baseball and become an executive with the company.
    1957 - In response to the increasingly tense situation in the Middle East, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a proposal to Congress that calls for a new and more proactive U.S. policy in the region. The "Eisenhower Doctrine," as the proposal soon came to be known, established the Middle East as a Cold War battlefield. In the summer of 1958, nearly 15,000 U.S. troops were sent to help quell the disturbances in Lebanon.
    1959 - Coral Records releases what proves to be Buddy Holly's last record before his death, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", which was one of the few songs that Buddy recorded that he didn't write. It was penned by Paul Anka and peaked at #13, two months after Holly was killed in a plane crash on Feb 3, 1959 in Iowa.
    1961 - "Mr. Ed", the show about a talking horse, debuted for the episode of a six-year run. The show starred Alan Young as Ed's owner, Wilbur Post, and Connie Hines as Wilbur's wife, Carol. Neighbor, Roger Addison, was played by Larry Keating who was not the only neighbor confounded by Ed's antics during the show's run. Mr. Ed was voiced by Allan ‘Rocky' Lane.
    1961 - US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
    1963 - The co-founder of Chess records, Leonard Chess, tells Billboard, "As it stands today, there's virtually no difference between rock and roll, pop and rhythm and blues. The music has completely overlapped."
    1963 - "Camelot" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 873 performances
    1964 - Following an unprecedented pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. It was the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in over 500 years (since 1439).
    1964 - The Chargers rout the Patriots 51-10 in the AFL title game as fullback Keith Lincoln totals 349 yards of offense.
http://images.nfl.com/history/images/0105.jpg
    1965 - Top Hits
“I Feel Fine” - The Beatles
“She's a Woman” - The Beatles
“Love Potion Number Nine” - The Searchers
“Once a Day” - Connie Smith
    1967 – The Inaugural message of Ronald Reagan, California's 33rd governor, was delivered during ceremonies in the Rotunda of the State Capitol at midnight. Just before the swearing in, the new governor turned to U.S. Senator George Murphy -- a former movie song-and-dance man -- and said "Well George, here we are on the late show again." The new governor placed his hand on Father Serra’s bible as he was sworn in by State Supreme Court Justice Marshall F. McComb.
    1968 - "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits" goes gold just nine months after its release. The album package includes an award-winning poster by graphic artist Milton Glaser.
    1968 - Dr. Benjamin Spock indicted for conspiring to violate draft law
    1970 - "All My Children" premiered on television. This ABC show became TV's top-rated soap opera by the 1978-79 season and still keeps viewers glued to the screen. “All My Children” was created by Agnes Nixon, who had written for “Search for Tomorrow,” “Another World” and “One Life to Live.” Set in a place called Pine Valley, NY, the show focused on the Tyler and Martin families. The story includes the illegitimate child of Dr. Tyler, Erica Kane (played by Susan Lucci), who became one of daytimes TV's most popular characters. Lucci had been nominated more than a dozen times for an Emmy, and finally won one in 1999. This serial has included the cast of Hugh Franklin as Dr. Charles Tyler and Ruth Warrick as his wife, Phoebe; son Lincoln has been played by James Karen, Paul Dumont, Nicholas Pryor and Peter White, daughter Ann by Diana De Vegh, Joanna Miles, Judith Barcorft and Gwyn Gilles.
    1970 - MILLER, FRANKLIN D., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces.  Place and date: Kontum province, Republic of Vietnam, 5 January 1970. Entered service at: Albuquerque, N. Mex. Born: 27 January 1945, Elizabeth City, N.C. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Miller, 5th Special Forces Group, distinguished himself while serving as team leader of an American-Vietnamese long-range reconnaissance patrol operating deep within enemy controlled territory. Leaving the helicopter insertion point, the patrol moved forward on its mission. Suddenly, 1 of the team members tripped a hostile booby trap which wounded 4 soldiers. S/Sgt. Miller, knowing that the explosion would alert the enemy, quickly administered first aid to the wounded and directed the team into positions across a small stream bed at the base of a steep hill. Within a few minutes, S/Sgt. Miller saw the lead element of what he estimated to be a platoon-size enemy force moving toward his location. Concerned for the safety of his men, he directed the small team to move up the hill to a more secure position. He remained alone, separated from the patrol, to meet the attack. S/Sgt. Miller single-handedly repulsed 2 determined attacks by the numerically superior enemy force and caused them to withdraw in disorder. He rejoined his team, established contact with a forward air controller and arranged the evacuation of his patrol. However, the only suitable extraction location in the heavy jungle was a bomb crater some 150 meters from the team location. S/Sgt. Miller reconnoitered the route to the crater and led his men through the enemy controlled jungle to the extraction site. As the evacuation helicopter hovered over the crater to pick up the patrol, the enemy launched a savage automatic weapon and rocket-propelled grenade attack against the beleaguered team, driving off the rescue helicopter. S/Sgt. Miller led the team in a valiant defense which drove back the enemy in its attempt to overrun the small patrol. Although seriously wounded and with every man in his patrol a casualty, S/Sgt. Miller moved forward to again single-handedly meet the hostile attackers. From his forward exposed position, S/Sgt. Miller gallantly repelled 2 attacks by the enemy before a friendly relief force reached the patrol location. S/Sgt. Miller's gallantry, intrepidity in action, and selfless devotion to the welfare of his comrades are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
    1971 - After posting victories in 2,495 straight games dating back to 1962, the Harlem Globetrotters suffered a rare defeat at the hands of their perennial opponents, the Washington Generals. In the closing seconds of a game in Martin, TN, a basket by Red Klotz gave the Generals a 100-99 win.
    1971 - US heavyweight boxer "Sonny" Liston's corpse was found.  Liston was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home. On returning home from a two-week trip, Geraldine, on entering, saw Sonny slumped up against the bed, a broken foot bench on the floor. Authorities theorized that he was undressing for bed when he fell over backward with such force that he broke the rail of the bench. 
    1972 - United States President Richard Nixon signed a bill instructing NASA to begin research on a manned space shuttle.
    1972 - John Denver was awarded a gold record for the album, "Aerie".
    1973 - Top Hits
“Me and Mrs. Jones” - Billy Paul
“Clair” - Gilbert O'Sullivan
“You're So Vain” - Carly Simon
“She's Got to Be a Saint” - Ray Price
    1974 - The Carpenters' greatest-hits collection, "The Singles 1969-1973," hits #1.  The brother-and-sister duo had, by this year, charted eight Top Ten hits, including a pair of Number Ones.
    1975 – Actor Bradley Cooper was born in Philadelphia.
    1979 - The soundtrack LP for "Saturday Night Fever" reached $25 million marker in sales.
    1979 - The Blues Brothers, known better as Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, reportedly ruffle some feathers with their tongue-in-cheek renderings of classic soul songs. However, their biggest supporters are the covered artists themselves. The Blues Brothers album, "Briefcase of Blues" goes to Number One and goes platinum on this date and give the Sam and Dave song, "Soul Man," a new life.  I have all their records and play them often, such as I compile this.
    1981 - Top Hits
“(Just Like) Starting Over” - John Lennon
“Love on the Rocks” - Neil Diamond
“Hungry Heart” - Bruce Springsteen
“One in a Million” - Johnny Lee
    1982 - A three day rainstorm in the San Francisco, CA area finally came to an end. Marin and Santa Cruz counties were drenched with up to 25 inches of rain. Big snow fell in the Sierra-Nevada range, with accumulations up to eight feet in depth. The storm claimed at least 36 lives and caused more than 300 million dollars damage.
    1987 - The first year in which the federal budget exceeded $1 trillion was the fiscal year 1988. The budget submitted to Congress by President Ronald Wilson Reagan totaled $1,024.3 billion, or $1.024 trillion, which included revenues of $916.6 billion and projected deficit of $107.8 billion. 
    1987 - When the Midshipmen defeated East Carolina, 91-66, David Robinson became the first basketball player in the history of the Naval Academy to score over 2,000 points; he went on to become a star in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs.  Robinson is a 10-time NBA All-Star, the 1995 NBA MVP, a two-time NBA Champion (1999 and 2003), a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner (1992, 1996), a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (2009 for his individual career, 2010 as a member of the 1992 US Men’s Olympic basketball team), and a two-time US Olympic Hall of Fame inductee (2008 individually, 2009 as a member of the 1992 Olympic team). He is widely considered one of the greatest centers in both college and NBA history. To date, Robinson is the only player from Navy to play in the NBA.
    1987 - Surrogate Baby M case begins in Hackensack, NJ.  In re Baby M was a custody case that became the first American court ruling on the validity of surrogacy. William Stern and his wife, Elizabeth Stern, entered into a surrogacy agreement with Mary Beth Whitehead, whom they found through a newspaper advertisement. According to the agreement, Mary Beth Whitehead would be inseminated with William Stern's sperm (making her a traditional, as opposed to gestational, surrogate), bring the pregnancy to term, and relinquish her parental rights in favor of William's wife, Elizabeth. After the birth, however, Mary Beth decided to keep the child. William and Elizabeth Stern then sued to be recognized as the child's legal parents.  The New Jersey court ruled that the surrogacy contract was invalid according to public policy, recognized Mary Beth Whitehead as the child's legal mother, and ordered the Family Court to determine whether Whitehead, as mother, or Stern, as father, should have legal custody of the infant, using the conventional 'best interests of the child' analysis. Stern was awarded custody, with Whitehead having visitation rights.
    1988 - The Columbia Broadcasting System sold CBS Records to the Sony Corporation of Japan. CBS Records began in 1887 as the American Graphophone Company, founded by two English inventors, one of whom was a cousin of Alexander Graham Bell. American Graphophone manufactured dictation machines. Its offspring, the Columbia Phonograph Company, did not begin making records until 1890. Over the years, Columbia Records was owned by an English businessman, a radio and refrigerator manufacturer, a button maker and finally a broadcaster before being sold to Sony.
    1988 - Thunderstorms helped produce heavy snow in the Lower Great Lakes Region. Snow fell at the rate of four to five inches per hour, and snowfall totals ranged up to 69 inches at Highmarket, NY.
    1989 - Top Hits
“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” - Poison
“My Prerogative” - Bobby Brown
“Two Hearts” - Phil Collins
“When You Say Nothing at All” - Keith Whitley
    1989 - A strong Pacific cold front produced heavy snow and high winds in Nevada. Winds gusted to 80 mph north of Reno, while up to two feet of snow blanketed the Lake Tahoe ski area.
    1993 - Mike Ditka was dismissed as Chicago Bears head coach after 32 years as a player and coach (11 seasons as head coach, 106-62). In 1988, Ditka, who played in five Pro Bowls and two conference championships (1963 and 1971), was the first tight end to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
    1995 - Myra C. Selby, became the first woman and the first black member of the Indiana State Supreme Court.
http://www.state.in.us/judiciary/fairness/members/selby.html
http://www.icemiller.com/lawyer_print.aspx?id=882andbioid=212
    1996 - After 33 seasons as a head coach, Don Shula retired from the helm of the Miami Dolphins to become part-owner and vice-chairman of the team. Shula left the game as the winningest professional coach of all time with a record, counting regular season and playoff games 347-173-6. His teams made the playoffs 20 times and won two Super Bowls.
    1998 - Sonny Bono, age 62, was killed after slamming into a tree while skiing at a resort in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Bono, formerly married to entertainer Cher, had become active in politics following their breakup. He had served as the mayor of Palm Springs, California, and a congressman. The pop duo Sonny and Cher had several big hits, including "The Beat Goes On" and "I've Got You, Babe".
    2005 - Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered by the team of Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
    2007 – Bill Cowher resigns as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers after winning the Super Bowl.  In 15 seasons as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he led the team to eight division titles and 10 playoff appearances, which resulted in two Super Bowl appearances and one victory.