Today in History January 8

307 – Jin Huidi, Chinese Emperor of the Jin dynasty, is poisoned and succeeded by Jin Huaidi.

1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco.

1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador.

1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.

1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.

1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.

1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ – his punched card calculator.

1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.

1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.

1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

The QM2 in New York harbor

2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.

2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.

1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)

Elvis and his mom

1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)

1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)

1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)

1947 – David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2016)

1958 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education

1984 – Kim Jong-un, 3rd Supreme Leader of North Korea

1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1564)

1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)

1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (b. 1887)

1976 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1898)

1996 – François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)