Today in history: Jan. 25
In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix, France, and more events that happened on this day in history.
1915: Alexander Graham Bell
In 1915, America’s first official transcontinental telephone call took place as Alexander Graham Bell, who was in New York, spoke to his former assistant, Thomas Watson, who was in San Francisco, over a line set up by American Telephone & Telegraph.
1924: Winter Olympic Games
In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix, France.
1959: American Airlines
In 1959, American Airlines began Boeing 707 jet flights between New York and Los Angeles.
1971: Charles Manson
In 1971, Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actor Sharon Tate.
1981: Hostages
In 1981, the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States.
1994: Michael Jackson
In 1994, maintaining his innocence, singer Michael Jackson settled a child molestation lawsuit against him; terms were confidential, although the monetary figure was reportedly $22 million.
2004: Mars Rover
In 2004, NASA’s Opportunity rover zipped its first pictures of Mars to Earth, showing a surface smooth and dark red in some places, and strewn with fragmented slabs of light bedrock in others.
2012: Gabrielle Giffords
In 2012, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona returned to Congress to officially tender her resignation a year after she was shot and severely wounded in her home district.
2017: Donald Trump
Five years ago: President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation’s immigration controls, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants for immigrant-protecting “sanctuary cities.”
2017: John Hurt
In 2017, actor John Hurt died at 77.
2017: Mary Tyler Moore
Five years ago: Mary Tyler Moore, who created one of TV’s first career-woman sitcom heroines in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died at the age of 80.
2020: Impeachment
In 2020, President Donald Trump’s defense team opened its arguments at his first Senate impeachment trial, casting the effort to remove him from office as a politically motivated attempt to subvert the 2016 election and the upcoming 2020 contest.
2020: Impeachment
One year ago: House Democrats delivered the impeachment case against Donald Trump to the Senate for the start of his historic second impeachment trial even as Republican senators eased off of their criticism of the former president and shunned calls to convict him over the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol.
2021: Joe Biden
One year ago: President Joe Biden reinstated COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-U.S. travelers from more than two dozen countries, including European countries that allowed travel across open borders; he added South Africa to the list because of concerns about a variant of the coronavirus that had spread beyond that nation. Biden signed an order reversing a Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from military service.
Here are today's top stories, celebrity birthdays and a look back at this day in history. Get caught up.