On This Day in History – January 7th – Almanac

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States, in 1800; St. Bernadette, born Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, in 1844; film executive Adolph Zukor in 1873; author Zora Neale Hurston in 1891; actor Butterfly McQueen in 1911; author William Blatty in 1928; Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner in 1946 (age 78); singer Kenny Loggins in 1948 (age 76); actor Erin Gray in 1950 (age 74); actor David Caruso in 1956 (age 68); television personality Katie Couric in 1957 (age 67); actor Nicolas Cage in 1964 (age 60); actor Irrfan Khan in 1967; actor Jeremy Renner in 1971 (age 53); actor Dustin Diamond in 1977; actor Lauren Cohan in 1982 (age 42); actor Brett Dalton in 1983 (age 41); actor Robert Sheehan in 1988 (age 36); actor Marcus Scribner in 2000 (age 24); actor Sofia Wylie in 2004 (age 20).

On this date in history:

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

In 1931, as the Great Depression was getting underway, 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 at the age of 88.

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 2015, Islamist terrorists stormed the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 members of the satirical publication’s staff. French President Francois Hollande described it as “an act of exceptional barbarism.”

In 2019, Amazon reached a market capitalization of $797 billion to become the world’s most valuable company for the first time over Microsoft and Apple.

In 2023, the House of Representatives elected Republican Kevin McCarthy to be speaker after 15 rounds of voting, the most number of ballots needed to select the leadership role since 1860, when it took 44 to elect Willian Pennington.

A thought for the day: U.S. President Bill Clinton said in his first inaugural address: “Together with our friends and allies, we will work to shape change, lest it engulf us. When our vital interests are challenged or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act, with peaceful diplomacy whenever possible, with force when necessary.”