1990 Gulf War In response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations sets a deadline of January 15th for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.

1961 First U.S. animal to orbit the Earth Enos, a 5-year-old chimpanzee, is launched aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 satellite. He orbited the Earth twice and was recovered later in the day.

1951 First underground atomic explosion The U.S. explodes a device at Frenchman Flat, Nevada. It left an 800-foot wide by 100-foot deep crater.

1948 Kukla, Fran and Ollie The children's TV show debuts on NBC. Fran Allison and the Kuklapolitan Players had been a local hit for a year on a Chicago TV station.

1941 Coffee rationing The U.S. begins rationing coffee as a result of World War II. This remained in effect until 1943.

1929 First person to fly over the South Pole American explorer Richard E. Byrd.

1890 First Army-Navy football game Navy wins 24-0.

1864 Chivington Massacre Disarmed and awaiting terms of surrender, 105 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian women and children and 28 Indian men are slaughtered by calvary troops led by Col. John M. Chivington at Sand Creek, Colorado.

1492 Smoking Columbus first notes in his diary the smoking of tobacco by the Indians.

1968 Jon Knight (Jonathan Rasleigh Knight), American pop musician, member of New Kids on the Block.

1949 Gary Shandling American comic actor. TV: It's Gary Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show.

1941 Dennis Doherty Canadian folk singer, with The Mamas and the Papas. Music: California Dreamin' (1965) and Monday, Monday (1966, #1).

1940 Chuck Mangione American Grammy-winning musician. Music: Feels So Good (1977).

1933 David Reuben American psychiatrist, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (1969).

1932 Diane Ladd (Rose Diane Ladner), American actress. Film: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974, waitress Flo). TV: Alice (waitress Belle Dupree).

1928 Paul Simon American politician, U.S. Senator (Democrat Illinois).

1927 Vincent Scully American sportscaster, game-show host. TV: Challenge of the Sexes,It Takes Two, and The Vin Scully Show.

1923 Frank Reynolds d. 1983 American anchorman. TV: ABC Evening News.

1898 C.S. Lewis d. 1963 (Clive Staples Lewis), British author, Christian apologist. Books: The Allegory of Love (1936), The Screwtape Letters (1942), Out of the Silent Planet (1938), and The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56).

1876 Nellie Tayloe Ross d. 1977 American politician, first woman state governor (Wyoming, 1925-27), and the first woman director of the U.S. Mint (1933).

1849 Sir John Ambrose Fleming d. 1945 English engineer. He patented the first vacuum tube (1904), revolutionizing the wireless telegraph. He also made numerous contributions to the development of the telephone and electric lighting.

1832 Louisa May Alcott d. 1888 American author. Writings: Little Women (1868) and Little Men (1871).

1825 Jean-Martin Charcot d. 1893 French physician. He and Guillaume Duchenne founded modern neurology. As one of his pupils, Sigmund Freud's interest in the psychological aspects of neurosis was initiated by his use of hypnosis.

1816 Morrison Remick Waite d. 1888 American jurist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1874-88).

1803 Christian Johann Doppler d. 1853 Austrian physicist. He discovered the "Doppler effect" (1842, The frequency of a wave is relative to the motion between its source and observer).

2004 John Drew Barrymore b. 1932 (John Blythe Barrymore,  Jr.), American actor, son of John Barrymore and father of Drew Barrymore.  In 1980, he swiped his father's body from its grave in order to fulfill his father's wish for cremation.  Even though his father's will specified cremation when he died in 1942, his body was entombed by the deceased's brother due to religious beliefs.

2001 George Harrison b. 1943 British singer, one of the Beatles.

1992 Robert Shayne b. 1910 (Robert Shaen Dawe), American actor. TV: The Adventures of Superman (Inspector Henderson).

1991 Ralph Bellamy b. 1904 American Tony-winning actor. Stage: Sunrise at Campobello (1958, Pres. Roosevelt, Tony Award), The Winds of War (Pres. Roosevelt), Rosemary's Baby (1968, evil doctor), Trading Places (1983, conniving billionaire), and as Ellery Queen in the films of the 1940s.

1986 Cary Grant b. 1904 (Archibald Leach), British-born Oscar-winning actor. Film: North By Northwest (1959) and That Touch of Mink (1962).

1984 Miss Baker b. circa 1957 Peruvian-born squirrel monkey, in 1958 she was flown into space by the U.S. to prove that primates could survive space travel.

1981 Natalie Wood b. 1938 (Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, billed as Natasha Gurdin by the age of four), American actress. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, as the little girl who trusted Santa Claus) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Judy). She drowned off the side of her yacht while it was docked (What kind of wood doesn't float?).

1924 Giacomo Puccini b. 1854 Italian operatic composer, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.

1872 Horace Greeley b. 1811 American editor, author, co-founder of the New Yorker (1834), founder of the New York Tribune (1841), and famous for the phrase "Go West, young man."

1530 Thomas Wolsey b. circa 1475 English statesman and Cardinal. It is believed that he is the Little Boy Blue of the nursery rhyme.

1378 Charles IV b. 1316 Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Bohemia (1347-78).

1268 Clement IV b. ???? French-born religious leader, 183rd Pope (1265-68).

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