TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Saturday, Jan. 25, the 25th day of 2020. There are 341 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 25, 1915, America’s first official transcontinental telephone call took place as Alexander Graham Bell, who was in New York, spoke to his former assistant, Thomas Watson, who was in San Francisco, over a line set up by American Telephone & Telegraph.

On this date:

In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln accepted Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s resignation as commander of the Army of the Potomac and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix, France.

In 1945, the World War II Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces were pushed back to their original positions. Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first community to add fluoride to its public water supply.

In 1947, gangster Al Capone died in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 48.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference to be carried live on radio and television.

In 1971, Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate.

In 1981, the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States.

In 1990, an Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, Long Island, New York; 73 of the 158 people aboard were killed. Actress Ava Gardner died in London at age 67.

In 1993, a gunman shot and killed two CIA employees outside agency headquarters in Virginia (Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kansi was later tried and convicted of the shootings, and executed). Sears announced that it would no longer publish its famous century-old catalog.

In 1994, maintaining his innocence, singer Michael Jackson settled a child molestation lawsuit against him; terms were confidential, although the monetary figure was reportedly $22 million.

In 1998, Pope John Paul II ended his historic journey to Cuba.

In 2017, President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation’s immigration controls, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting “sanctuary cities.” Death claimed actress Mary Tyler Moore at age 80 and actor John Hurt at age 77.

Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Claude Gray is 88. Actress Leigh Taylor-Young is 76. Actress Jenifer (cq) Lewis is 63. Country musician Mike Burch (River Road) is 54. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kina is 51. Actress China Kantner is 49. Actress Ana Ortiz is 49. Drummer Joe Sirois (Mighty Mighty Bosstones) is 48. Musician Matt Odmark(Jars of Clay) is 46. Actress Mia Kirshner is 45. Actress Christine Lakin is 41. Rhythm-and-blues singer Alicia Keys is 40. Actor Michael Trevino is 35. Pop musician Calum Hood (5 Seconds to Summer) is 24. Actress Olivia Edward is 13.

Thought for Today: “A first-rate organizer is never in a hurry. He is never late. He always keeps up his sleeve a margin for the unexpected.” — Arnold Bennett, English poet, author and critic (1867-1931).

By The Associated Press

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