Today In History, Jan. 9: Joe Arpaio
Today is Wednesday, Jan. 9.
Today's Highlight in History:
2018: Joe Arpaio
One year ago: Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio (ahr-PY'-oh) announced that he would run for the Senate seat being vacated by fellow Republican Jeff Flake; Arpaio had been spared a possible jail sentence when Trump pardoned him for disobeying a judge. (Arpaio finished third in an August primary won by Rep. Martha McSally.)
1908: Simone de Beauvoir
In 1908, French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris.
1913: Richard Nixon
In 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, California.
1972: Howard Hughes Fake Autobiography
In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported autobiography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.
1987: Iran–Contra Scandal
In 1987, the White House released a January 1986 memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North showing a link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.
2001: Linda Chavez
In 2001, Linda Chavez withdrew her bid to be President-elect George W. Bush's Secretary of Labor because of controversy over an immigrant in the U.S. illegally who'd once lived with her.
2009: Illinois Governor Impeachment
Ten years ago: The Illinois House voted 114-1 to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vich), who defiantly insisted again that he had committed no crime. (The Illinois Senate unanimously voted to remove Blagojevich from office 20 days later.)
2009: Leon Panetta & Dennis Blair
Ten years ago: President-elect Barack Obama announced he had picked retired Adm. Dennis Blair (right) to be the national intelligence director and Leon Panetta (left) to head the CIA.
2009: Sirius Star
Ten years ago: A Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star, and its crew of 25 were released at the end of a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden after pirates were reportedly paid $3 million in ransom. (Five pirates were said to have drowned with their share of the money when their boat overturned.)
2014: Amiri Baraka
Five years ago: Activist poet-playwright Amiri Baraka, 79, died at a hospital in Newark, New Jersey.
2014: Chris Christie
Five years ago: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired one of his top aides, Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly, and apologized repeatedly for his staff's "stupid" behavior, insisting during a news conference that he had no idea anyone around him had engineered traffic jams as part of a political vendetta against a Democratic mayor.
2014: Elk River Chemical Spill
Five years ago: A chemical plant spill into West Virginia's Elk River contaminated the water supply for Charleston, forcing more than 300,000 water customers in nine counties to stop using tap water.
2018: Southern California
One year ago: Downpours sent mud and boulders roaring down Southern California hillsides that had been stripped of vegetation by a gigantic wildfire; more than 20 people died and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed.
2018: Steve Bannon
One year ago: Breitbart News Network announced that Steve Bannon was stepping down as chairman after his public break with President Donald Trump.
