Today in history
By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2008. There are 357 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
On Jan. 9, 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif.

On this date:
In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.

In 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union.

In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.

In 1958, President Eisenhower, in his State of the Union address to Congress, warned of the threat of Communist imperialism

In 1964, anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and several U.S. soldiers.

In 1968, the Surveyor VII space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.

In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.

Ten years ago: Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam visited the Maze Prison to make a face-to-face appeal for peace to Protestant militants. The Barry Switzer era with the Dallas Cowboys ended with the announcement of the coach's resignation.

Five years ago: U.N. weapons inspectors said there was no "smoking gun" to prove Iraq had nuclear, chemical or biological weapons but they demanded that Baghdad provide private access to scientists and fresh evidence to back its claim that it had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction.

One year ago: U.S. forces staged airstrikes against suspected al-Qaida fighters in Somalia in the first offensive there since 18 American soldiers were killed in 1993. Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, which went on sale the following June. Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Junior were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Today's Birthdays: Author Judith Krantz is 80. Football Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr is 74. Sportscaster Dick Enberg is 73. Actress K. Callan is 72. Folk singer Joan Baez is 67. Actress Susannah York is 67. Rock musician Jimmy Page is 64. Singer David Johansen is 58. Singer Crystal Gayle is 57. Actor J.K. Simmons is 53. Rock musician Eric Erlandson is 45. Actress Joely Richardson is 43. Rock musician Carl Bell is 41. Rock singer Steve Harwell is 41. Rock singer-musician Dave Matthews is 41. Actress-director Joey Lauren Adams is 40. Singer A.J. McLeanis 30.

Thought for Today: "Those who give have all things. They who withhold have nothing." - Hindu proverb.