On This Day in History - January 7th - Almanac

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2015 with 358 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars and Saturn. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States, in 1800; Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, who became St. Bernadette and whose visions led to the foundation of the shrine at Lourdes, France, in 1844; film executive Adolph Zukor in 1873; cartoonist Charles Addams in 1912; actors Butterfly McQueen in 1911 and Vincent Gardenia in 1920; author William Blatty ("The Exorcist") in 1928 (age 87); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Paul Revere in 1938; Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner in 1946 (age 69); singer Kenny Loggins in 1948 (age 67); actors Erin Gray in 1950 (age 65) and David Caruso in 1956 (age 59); television personality Katie Couric in 1957 (age 58); and actors Nicolas Cage in 1964 (age 51) and Jeremy Renner in 1971 (age 44).

On this date in history:

In 1789, the first nationwide U.S. presidential election was conducted. Electors chosen by the voters unanimously picked George Washington as president and John Adams as vice president.

In 1927, commercial trans-Atlantic telephone service between New York and London was inaugurated.

In 1931, as the Great Depression was getting under way, a report to U.S. President Herbert Hoover estimated that 4 million to 5 million Americans were out of work.

In 1953, U.S. President Harry Truman announced that the United States had developed the hydrogen bomb.

In 1979, the Cambodian government of Pol Pot was overthrown.

In 1980, the U.S. government authorized $1.5 billion in loans for Chrysler Corp.

In 1989, Japan's Emperor Hirohito died.

In 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a long-awaited report that classified environmental tobacco smoke as a carcinogen.

In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial opened in the Senate. (He was acquitted.)

In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed a tax-cut package of $670 billion over 10 years.

In 2012, the Pakistani government released 179 Indian fishermen imprisoned for violating territorial waters. The men, some of whom had been held for a year, said they sailed into Pakistani waters by mistake.

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Georgia's ban on carrying guns into churches.

In 2014, police in Venezuela identified a couple killed in a highway robbery the day before as actress and former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear, 29. and her former husband, Thomas Henry Berry, 39. Their 5-year-old daughter, Maya, was shot and wounded. (Seven suspects were later arrested.)

A thought for the day: "If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble." -- Bob Hope