On This Day in History - January 3rd - Almanac

Today is Sunday, Jan. 3, the third day of 2021 with 362 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Roman philosopher Cicero in 106 B.C.; feminist/abolitionist Lucretia Mott in 1793; American first lady Grace Coolidge in 1879; author J.R.R. Tolkien in 1892; football Hall of Fame Coach Hank Stram in 1923; Beatles record producer George Martin in 1926; Italian film director Sergio Leone in 1929; Brazilian composer Ernst Mahle in 1929 (age 92); actor Robert Loggia in 1930; actor Dabney Coleman in 1932 (age 89); hockey Hall of Fame member Bobby Hull in 1939 (age 82); musician Van Dyke Parks in 1943 (age 78); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Stephen Stills in 1945 (age 76); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member John Paul Jones in 1946 (age 75); actor Victoria Principal in 1950 (age 71); actor/director Mel Gibson in 1956 (age 65); German racing champion Michael Schumacher in 1969 (age 52); actor Danica McKellar in 1975 (age 46); DJ Thomas Bangalter in 1975 (age 46); pro football quarterback Eli Manning in 1981 (age 40); actor Katie McGrath in 1983 (age 38); actor Florence Pugh in 1996 (age 25); climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2003 (age 18); actor Raegan Revord in 2008 (age 13).

On this date in history:

In 1777, the Continental Army commanded by Gen. George Washington defeated the British at Princeton, N.J.

In 1870, construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, designed by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling, begins.

In 1933, Minnie Craig becomes the first female speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives. Craig was the first woman to hold a speakership in the United States.

In 1938, the March of Dimes was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1944, USMC fighter ace Pappy Boyington is shot down over the Pacific by Japanese pilot Masajiro Kawato.

In 1959, Alaska became the 49th state of the United States.

In 1961, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba after Fidel Castro announced he was a communist.

In 1962, Cuban leader Fidel Castro was excommunicated by Pope John XXIII.

In 1967, Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of President John F. Kennedy, died of cancer in Dallas.

In 1969, police in Newark, N.J., confiscated a shipment of the John Lennon-Yoko Ono album Two Virgins because the cover photo, featuring full frontal nudity, violated pornography laws.

In 1990, deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega left his refuge in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City and surrendered to U.S. troops. He was taken to Florida to face narcotics trafficking charges.

In 1993, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the START II treaty reducing strategic nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.

In 2004, a Flash Airline Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff in Egypt, killing 148 people.

In 2006, Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist, agreed to plead guilty to fraud, public corruption and tax evasion charges, and to testify against politicians and former colleagues.

In 2009, the Genesis block, the first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, was established by Satoshi Nakamoto.

In 2015, the Boko Haram militant group began a series of attacks on the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga lasting five days. Local media said at least 100 people died, though some reports put the death toll closer to 2,000.

In 2020, a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad. The U.S. military accused him of developing plans to attack U.S. diplomats and service members in the Middle East.

A thought for the day: "Beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes clean to the bone." -- American writer Dorothy Parker