Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

January 5

2004
Vice-President Cheney: Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Scalia go on a three-day hunting trip together.  Scalia would later refuse to recuse himself from a pending court case involving Cheney that the court had agreed to hear just three weeks earlier.

1987
Pres. Reagan produces the nation's first trillion-dollar budget.

1968
Dr. Benjamin Spock is indicted for conspiracy to aid others in draft evasion. He was later convicted and sentenced to two years.

1925
First woman U.S. governor: Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross, Wyoming, takes office.

1914
Henry Ford: The automaker announces an unprecedented five-dollar-a-day minimum wage for his employees.

1905
National Association of Audubon Societies: The organization is incorporated. It is dedicated to protecting birds.

1887
First U.S. library school: Opens at Columbia University.

1818
First ocean liner: The James Monroe sets sail on its maiden voyage from New York to England. It arrived February 2.

1776
First state constitution: Adopted by the New Hampshire Colony.

1953
Pamela Sue Martin, American actress. TV: Dynasty (Fallon Colby).

1953
George Tenet, U.S. Director of the CIA (1997-2004).

1950
Chris Stein, American guitarist, with Blondie. Music: Heart of Glass (1979, #1), Call Me (1980, #1), and Rapture (1981, #1).

1947
Mercury Morris, American football running back.

1946
Diane Keaton (Diane Hall), American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Annie Hall (1977, Oscar).

1931
Robert Duvall, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Tender Mercies (1982, Oscar).

1928
Walter Frederick Mondale, 42nd U.S. Vice-President (1977-81) and U.S Ambassador to Japan.

1918
Jeane Pinckert Dixon, astrologer, psychic.

1895     d. 1981
Jeanette Ridlon Piccard, American scientist and Episcopal priest. She was the first American woman to qualify as a free-balloon pilot (1934) and the first person to successfully fly a balloon through a layer of clouds (1934).

1855     d. 1932
King Camp Gillette, American manufacturer, inventor of the safety razor (1895).

1794     d. 1865
Edmund Ruffin, American agriculturist. He fired the first shot of the attack on Fort Sumter starting the Civil War. According to legend, he wrapped himself in the Confederate flag and committed suicide after the collapse of the Confederacy.

1782     d. 1834
Robert Morrison, English missionary, first Protestant minister to China (1807). In 1823 he completed his Chinese translation of the entire Bible. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1779     d. 1813
Zebulon Montgomery Pike, American general, for whom Pikes Peak is named. He was killed while leading the attack on York (now Toronto), Canada.

1998     b. 1935
Sonny Bono (Salvatore Bono), American singer with Cher, mayor, and U.S. Representative. Music: I Got You Babe (1965, #1).

1994     b. 1912
Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, American politician, Speaker of the House.

1988     b. 1947
"Pistol" Pete Maravich, American basketball player, NBA Hall of Famer (1986).

1981     b. 1893
Harold Clayton Urey, American chemist. He discovered heavy water (1931), for which he won the 1934 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

1943     b. circa 1864
George Washington Carver, American black agricultural scientist, inventor. He is renowned for his research into the industrial use of crops, especially peanuts and sweet potatoes.

1933     b. 1872
Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President (1923-29) and 29 U.S. Vice-President (1921-23). He became president after the death of Harding.

1886     b. 1813
Joshua Ballinger Lippincott, American publisher, founder of J.B. Lippincott & Co. (1836).

1860     b. 1811
John Nepomucene Neumann, Bohemian-born American Roman Catholic Bishop (Philadelphia, 1852). He was the first American male saint (1977).

1796     b. 1731
Samuel Huntington, 7th president of the Continental Congress (1779-81), signer of the Declaration of Independence, president of the Continental Congress (1779-81), and governor of Connecticut (1786-96).

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