This Day Trivia - January 2nd

Events

2002 Buddy Pres. Clinton's chocolate Labrador retriever is hit by a car and killed while running loose near their Chappaqua, New York home.

1974 55 mph The Presidential act to reduce the 70-mph speed limit to 55 mph is signed by U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon. It was intended to save fuel in response to the 1973 oil crisis. The act was repealed in 1995.

1971 Sixty-six people are killed at a soccer game in Glasgow, Scotland. Metal barriers collapsed causing a stampede crushing more than 200 fans.

1960 16-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the U.S. Chess championship.

1959 First moon shot The USSR Lunik I is launched. It missed, becoming the first man-made object to pass near the moon and the first man-made object to orbit the Sun.

1959 Fidel Castro becomes prime minister of Cuba.

1953 McCarthyism Sen. Joseph McCarthy is condemned by the U.S. Senate for his actions during his investigations into Communist activity.

1953 The Life of Riley debuts on NBC for the second time, starring William Bendix as Chester A. Riley.

1952 Pope Pius XII declares TV as a threat to family life.

1921 First religious radio broadcast in the U.S The Calvary Episcopal Church begins broadcasting over KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1903 Pres. Roosevelt closes a Missouri post office for refusing to employ Minnie Cox, a black female, as postmaster.

1888 Drinking straw Marvin Chester Stone of Washington D.C. patents his invention.

1788 Georgia becomes the 4th state.

1776 Flag of the United Colonies is first raised by General George Washington.

1762 England declares war on Spain

Births

1939 Jim Bakker (James Orsen), American televangelist. He served 4½ years in prison (1989-94) for defrauding his followers of $158,000,000.

1936 Roger Miller d. 1992 American Grammy (11 from 1964-65) and Tony-winning composer. He wrote King of the Road (1965, #1), which became the hobo anthem.

1928 Howard Caine American actor. TV: Hogan's Heroes (Major Hochstedder).

1920 Isaac Asimov d. 1992 Russian-born American science-fiction author and giver of the "three laws of robotics." Writings: I Robot (1950).  He died of complications of AIDS, which he contracted in 1983 from a blood transfusion.

1913 Anna Lee English actress. TV: General Hospital (Lila Quartermaine).

1857 Frederick Burr Opper d. 1937 American cartoonist. He created Happy Hooligan (1902) and illustrated works for Mark Twain.

1836 Emma d. 1885 Queen of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)  (1855-63). She was the first queen to visit the U.S. (1866).

1647 Nathaniel Bacon d. 1676 American colonial leader. He led Bacon's Rebellion (1676), overthrowing the governor of Virginia. The settlers were upset due to excessive taxes, loss of self rule, and the governor's refusal to protect them against Indians.

Deaths

1990 Alan Hale Jr b. 1918 American actor. TV: Gilligan's Island (Skipper Jonas Grumby).

1989 Eddie Heywood b. 1915 American jazz pianist, composed Canadian Sunset.

1963 Dick Powell b. 1904 American actor, singer. His death was attributed to radiation exposure received from an A-bomb test near the filming of a movie in 1953.

1924 Sabine Baring-Gould b. 1834 English clergyman, author of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers. Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church