Today, January 8

1297 – Forces under François Grimaldi, the ruling family of Monaco still to date, capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco.

1790 – As required by the U.S. Constitution, George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address to Congress in New York City, at the time, the provisional capital.

1815 – Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans

1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.

1835 – President Andrew Jackson announces a celebratory dinner after having reduced the United States national debt to Zero for the first and only time.

1863 – Confederate forces from Arkansas under Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke engage Union forces under Brigadier General Egbert Brown in house to house fighting in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Union supply depot at Springfield, Missouri.

1877 – Lakota and Cheyenne warriors led by Crazy Horse and Two Moon engage in their last battle against the U. S. Army in an unsuccessful attack on troops under Colonel Nelson A. Miles at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.

1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued a US patent for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’;  a punch card calculator.

1956 – 5 U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani tribe in Ecuador shortly after making first contact.

1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States. (As we can see, it’s been a utter failure, actually causing more problems than Johnson proclaimed to want to solve)

1973 – The trial of 7 men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex begins

1982 – After being sued by the U. S. government, AT&T agrees to a consent decree, divesting itself of 22 subsidiary operating companies taking effect at the end of the next year.

2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act. ( Another failure that was so bad, the law was repealed in 2015)

2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481, a Beechcraft 1900D, crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 passengers and crew on board.

2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.

2011 – Federal Judge John Roll, along with 5 others are killed and 18 more, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, are wounded by a literal madman in a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona