Today is Tuesday, January 15th, the 15th day of the year. There are 350 days until the end of the year.
On this day:
In 1870, the donkey was first used to symbolize the Democratic Party. The donkey appeared in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in "Harper's Weekly."
In 1943, the Pentagon was completed in Arlington, Virginia.
In 1953, President Harry Truman became the first U.S. President to use radio and television to say farewell as he left office.
In 1955, the first solar-heated, radiation-cooled house was built by Raymond Bliss in Tucson, Arizona.
In 1973, President Nixon ordered an end to all military attacks against North Vietnam following progress in the Paris peace talks.
In 1976, Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford.
In 1982, legendary sportscaster, columnist Red Smith died at the age of 76.
In 1987, singer, dancer Ray Bolger died at the age of 83. He is best remembered for his role as The Scarecrow in the classic film "The Wizard of Oz."
In 1998, blues singer, songwriter Junior Wells died at the age of 63.
In 2007, two aides to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were hanged for their roles in the killing of 148 people during a brutal government crackdown on Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail in the 1980s. The executions came about two weeks after Hussein himself was hanged for the same crime.
In 2009, in what was quickly dubbed "Miracle on the Hudson," the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 crash-landed the plane into the freezing waters of the Hudson River near midtown Manhattan after the plane sustained major engine failure shortly after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Pilot Chesley Sullenberger of Danville, California, an air force veteran, was hailed as a hero for putting the jet down at 165 miles an hour.
In 2016, actor Dan Haggerty died at the age of 74 from spinal cancer. He was best known for playing the lead in the film "The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams."
In 2018, Pharmacy giant CVS said it will ban retouched photos in its store-brand makeup marketing and promotional displays.