Feb. 1, 2009 - Today In History

Today is Sunday, Feb. 1, the 32nd day of 2009. There are 333 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members:

Commander Rick Husband;

pilot William McCool;

Michael Anderson;

Kalpana Chawla;

David Brown;

Laurel Clark; and

Ilan Ramon,
the first Israeli in space.

On this date:

In 1859, operetta composer Victor Herbert was born in Dublin, Ireland.

In 1861, Texas voted to secede from the Union.

In 1920, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into existence, merging the Royal North West Mounted Police and the Dominion Police.

In 1946, Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

In 1958, the United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria, was established. (Syria withdrew from the union in 1961.)

In 1959, men in Switzerland rejected giving women the right to vote by a more than 2-1 referendum margin. (Swiss women gained the right to vote in 1971.)

In 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.

In 1968, during the Vietnam War, South Vietnam's police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head in a scene recorded by The Associated Press and NBC News. Richard M. Nixon announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

In 1991, 34 people were killed when a USAir jetliner crashed atop a commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Ten years ago:

With the promise of huge federal surpluses, President Bill Clinton proposed a

$1.77 trillion budget for fiscal 2000.

Five years ago:

Twin suicide bombers killed 109 people at two Kurdish party offices in Irbil, Iraq.

A stampede during the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Mina, Saudi Arabia, killed at least 251 worshippers.

The New England Patriots won their second Super Bowl in three seasons with a 32-29 victory over
the Carolina Panthers; during the halftime show, Janet Jackson's breast became exposed, resulting in a $550,000 FCC fine against CBS. (A federal appeals court threw out the fine in July 2008.)

Roger Federer beat Marat Safin 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-2 to win the Australian Open.

One year ago:

Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — and the biggest quarterly profit to that time, breaking its own records.

Microsoft announced an unsolicited bid for Yahoo, which later rejected it.

Remote-controlled explosives strapped to two women killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad.

Today's Birthdays:

Actor Stuart Whitman is 81.

Singer Don Everly is 72.

Actor Garrett Morris is 72.

Singer Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) is 72.

Actor Sherman Hemsley is 71.

Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 70.

Jazz musician Joe Sample is 70.

Comedian Terry Jones is 67.

Rock musician Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 59.

Blues singer-musician Sonny Landreth is 58.

Actor-writer-producer Bill Mumy is 55.

Rock singer Exene Cervenka is 53.

Actor Linus Roache (TV: "Law and Order") is 45.

Princess Stephanie of Monaco is 44.

Country musician Dwayne Dupuy (Ricochet) is 44.

Actress Sherilyn Fenn is 44.

Lisa Marie Presley is 41.

Comedian-actor Pauly Shore is 41.

Actor Brian Krause is 40.

Jazz musician Joshua Redman is 40.

Rock musician Patrick Wilson (Weezer) is 40.

Actor Michael C. Hall is 38.

Rock musician Ron Welty is 38.

Rapper Big Boi (Outkast) is 34.

Country singer Julie Roberts is 30.

Actor Jarrett Lennon is 27.

TV personality Lauren Conrad is 23.

Thought for Today:

"There are shortcuts to happiness,
and dancing is one of them."

— Vicki Baum,
Austrian-born author
(1888-1960).