Today in History - January 2nd
1521: Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
1777: The Continental Army commanded by Gen. George Washington defeated the British at Princeton, N.J.
1833: Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
1840: Father Damien, helped the lepers in Hawaii, born
1879: Grace Coolidge, First lady. born
1888: 1st drinking straw is patented.
1892: J.R.R. Tolkein, author of the fantasy novel "Lord of the Rings," born
1938: The "March of Dimes" campaign to fight polio was organized.
1947: Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York got to see some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.
1959: President Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union as the 49th state.
1959: Castro takes command of the Cuban army.
1961: The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba after Fidel Castro announced he was a communist.
1967: Jack Ruby, the man who shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital.
1988: The Israeli Army ordered nine Palestinian activists deported as part of a controversial crackdown to stop the uprising in the occupied territories.
1990: Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to US forces, ten days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.
2000: The last new daily "Peanuts" strip by Charles Schulz ran in 26-hundred newspapers.