This Day in USA History
January 9

What happened in history on this day: January 9? On January 9 in ... 1861 - First hostile act of Civil War; Star of the West fired on, Sumter, South Carolina. 1861 - Mississippi becomes second state to secede. 1863 - (to January 11) Battle of Arkansas Post, Arkansas (Fort Hindman). 1903 - Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, is established. 1908 - Muir Woods National Monument is established in California. 1912 - US marines invade Honduras. 1915 - Exposition Auditorium dedicated, San Francisco, California. 1936 - Semi-automatic rifles adopted by US army. 1942 - US Joint Chiefs of Staff created. 1945 - US soldiers led by General Douglas MacArthur invade Philippines. 1956 - Abigail Van Buren's "Dear Abby" column first appears in newspapers. 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. 1964 - Anti-US rioting breaks out in the Panamá Canal Zone. 1968 - US Surveyor 7 space probe soft lands on the Moon. 1979 - US Supreme Court strikes down (6-3) Pennsylvania law requiring doctors performing an abortion to try to preserve lives of potentially viable fetuses. 1982 - 5.9 earthquake in New England and Canada; first since 1855. 1986 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant picture camera business. 1987 - The Star Tours attraction opens in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. It cost US$32 million to create. 1990 - US Supreme Court strikes down Dallas' ordinance imposing strict zoning on sexually oriented businesses. 1991 - American James Baker and Iraqi Terak Aziz meet in Geneva, Switzerland; talks fail to defuse the Persian Gulf crisis. 1991 - Microsoft releases Microsoft Excel for Windows 3.0, with Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology. 1992 - At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, Apple Computer chairman John Sculley coins the term Personal Digital Assistant, referring to handheld computers that typically operate via a stylus on a LCD display. Sculley announces that Apple will enter the consumer-electronics market by the end of the year. 1997 - Michael Eisner signs a new ten-year contract as chairman of Disney. His base salary is US$750,000 per year, plus a bonus tied to the company's financial performance, and he receives stock options for 8 million shares to be exercised between 2003 and 2006. The value of the options is estimated at US$195-771 million. 2002 - The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron. 2006 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time since June 7, 2001, closing at 11,011.90. 2007 - U.S. planes conduct air strikes in Somalia against suspected terrorists. 2008 - 70-car pileup along Interstate 4 in Florida, USA, due to fog and smoke. Five deaths. 2011 - US Mint Director Edmund Moy resigns. Births on January 9 1913 - Birth of Richard Milhouse Nixon in Yorba Linda, California, USA; 37th US President (Republican, 1969-74). 1914 - Birth of Gypsy Rose Lee [Rose Hovick] in Seattle, Washington, USA; burlesque actress (Gypsy). 1914 - Birth of Kenny (Klook) Clarke in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; jazz/drummer, composer (Epistrop). 1915 - Birth of Anita Louise in New York City, New York, USA; actress (My Friend Flicka). 1916 - Birth of Victor Mizzy in Brooklyn, New York, USA; orchestra leader, composer (The Don Rickles Show, Green Acres, The Addams Family). 1925 - Birth of Lee Van Cleef in New Jersey, USA; actor (For a Few Dollars More, Escape from New York). 1928 - Birth of Judith Krantz in New York City, New York, USA; author (Scruples, I'll Take Manhattan, Princess Daisy, Dazzle). 1935 - Birth of Bob Denver in New Rochelle, New York, USA; actor (Dobie Gillis, Gilligan - Gilligan's Island). 1935 - Birth of Dick Enberg in Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA; sportscaster (Where's Huddles). 1940 - Birth of Jimmy Boyd McComb in Missouri, USA; actor/singer (Howard - Bachelor Father). 1941 - Birth of Joan Baez in Staten Island, New York, USA; folk singer/human rights advocate. 1942 - Birth of K Callan in Dallas, Texas, USA; actress (This House Possessed, Splendor in the Grass, Martha - Lois and Clark). 1943 - Birth of Kathryn Walker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actress (Beacon Hill, Barbara - Another World). 1948 - Birth of William Cowsill in Newport, Rhode Island, USA; rock guitarist/vocals (Cowsills - "We Can Fly"). 1950 - Birth of David Johansen [Buster Poindexter] in New York; singer ("Hot! Hot! Hot!"). 1951 - Birth of Crystal Gayle in Kentucky, USA; country singer ("Don't it make my brown eyes blue"). 1951 - Birth of Rosalyn Kind in Brooklyn, New York, USA; singer (half sister of Barbra Streisand). 1956 - Birth of Kimberly Beck Hilton in Glendale, California, USA; actress (Kim - Peyton Place). 1960 - Birth of David Peoples in Augusta, Maine, USA; Nike golfer (1991 Buick Southern Open). 1965 - Birth of Carin Garbarra in East Orange, New Jersey, USA; soccer forward (Olympics-1996). 1965 - Birth of Cindy Brooks in East Hampton, Connecticut, USA; rower (Olympics-1996). 1969 - Birth of Domingo Jean; Dominican/US baseball pitcher (Houston Astros). 1970 - Birth of Graciela Schutt in El Paso, Texas, USA; WPVA volleyball player (Deerfield-25th-1995). 1971 - Birth of Elizabeth Punsalan in Syracuse, New York, USA; dance skater (and Swallow, Olympics-15-1994). 1972 - Birth of Jay Powell in Meridian, Mississippi, USA; pitcher (Florida Marlins). 1972 - Birth of Kristie Hicks in Bardstown, Kentucky, USA; Miss Kentucky-America (1995). 1975 - Birth of Justin Huish in Fountain Valley, California, USA; archer (Olympics-gold-1996). 1975 - Birth of Mariano Friedick in Tarzana, California, USA; pursuit cyclist (Olympics-1996). 1979 - Birth of Lavinia Magruder; Miss Vermont Teen-USA (1996). 1997 - Birth of Lauryn McClain, American actress and singer. Deaths on January 9 1908 - Abraham Goldfaden, US Yiddish stage performer (Shulamis), dies at age 67. 1930 - Edward W Buck, Dutch/US editor (Ladies Home Journal), dies at age 66. 1946 - Countee Cullen, American poet (Black Christ, One Way to Heaven), dies in New York City, New York at age 42. 1962 - LeRoy B Shield, US pianist/composer (Union Pacific Suite), dies at age 68. 1972 - Ted Shawn, American dancer, dies at age 80. 1992 - Death of Claude Coats at age 78; artist at Walt Disney Company 1935-89 for films, displays at Disneyland attractions, named a Disney Legend 1988. 2001 - Death of Maurice Prather, American motion picture and still photographer (born 1926).         Your Ad Here You can pick a particular day to view that day's events in history. Bookmark this URL:   http://thisdayinhistoryinfo.info/usa/   and revisit each day. (this URL will automatically re-direct to the file containing the current day's events) Or, visit my Timelines of History page. Other web pages of interest: Chronology of the United States of America Today in Disney History Today in Sports History Chronology of World War II Chronology of Personal Computers