January fourth

Today's Highlight in History:
On January fourth, 1965, President Johnson outlined the goals of his "Great Society" in his State of the Union Address.

On this date:
In 1809, Louis Braille, inventor of a reading system for the blind, was born in Coupvray, France.

In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

In 1885, Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what's believed to have been the first appendectomy on 22-year-old Mary Gartside.

In 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.

In 1948, Britain granted independence to Burma.

In 1951, during the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.

In 1960, French author Albert Camus died in an automobile accident at age 46.

In 1965, poet T.S. Eliot died in London at age 76.

In 1974, President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

In 1987, sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail engines approaching from a side track in Chase, Maryland.

Ten years ago: Charles Stuart, who'd claimed to have been wounded and his pregnant wife shot dead by a robber, leapt to his death off a Boston Harbor bridge after he himself became a suspect. Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was arraigned in federal district court in Miami on drug-trafficking charges.

Five years ago: The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives.

One year ago: Europe's new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets. Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura took the oath of office as Minnesota's 37th governor.

"Our civilization is still in a middle stage, no longer wholly guided by instinct, not yet wholly guided by reason."

-- Theodore Dreiser, American author (1871-1945).