January 8 Birthdays

January 8 in History

1815

The Battle of New Orleans, the last battle in the War of 1812, was fought.

1918

Woodrow Wilson outlined his Fourteen Points peace program.

1958

Bobby Fischer won the United States Chess Championship for the first time at age 14.

1959

Charles de Gaulle became the first president of France's Fifth Republic.

1964

President Lyndon Johnson announced his War on Poverty.

1982

The AT&T Bell System telephone monopoly agreed to divest itself of 22 Bell System companies and split itself into seven "Baby Bells."

1998

The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, was sentenced to life in prison.

2011

Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords is among 17 shot by a gunman at a meeting outside a grocery store. Six people are fatally wounded, including United States District Court Judge John Roll, and a young girl. Police identify the gunman as Jared Lee Loughner.