TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Tuesday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2021. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 5, 1925, Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming took office as America’s first female governor, succeeding her late husband, William, following a special election.

On this date:

In 1896, an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as X-rays.

In 1914, auto industrialist Henry Ford announced he was going to pay workers $5 for an 8-hour day, as opposed to $2.34 for a 9-hour day. (Employees still worked six days a week; the 5-day work week was instituted in 1926.)

In 1943, educator and scientist George Washington Carver, who was born into slavery, died in Tuskegee, Alabama, at about age 80.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced that he had ordered development of the space shuttle.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Elizabeth Dole to succeed Drew Lewis as secretary of transportation; Dole became the first woman to head a Cabinet department in Reagan’s administration, and the first to head the DOT.

In 1998, Sonny Bono, the 1960s pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort on the Nevada-California state line; he was 62.

In 2004, foreigners arriving at U.S. airports were photographed and had their fingerprints scanned in the start of a government effort to keep terrorists out of the country.

Today’s Birthdays: Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale is 93. Actor Robert Duvall is 90. Juan Carlos, former King of Spain, is 83. Former talk show host Charlie Rose is 79. Actor-director Diane Keaton is 75. Actor Ted Lange is 73. Rhythm-and-blues musician George “Funky” Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 72. Rock musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 71. Actor Clancy Brown is 62. Talk show host/dancer-choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba is 53. Actor Bradley Cooper is 46.

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