Today in History

Today is Sunday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2015. There are 354 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 11, 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, that made her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.

On this date:

In 1815, Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 1861, Alabama became the fourth state to withdraw from the Union.

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon National Monument (it became a national park in 1919).

In 1927, the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was proposed during a dinner of Hollywood luminaries at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1939, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax, the British foreign secretary, met with Italian leader Benito Mussolini in Rome.

In 1942, Japan declared war against the Netherlands, the same day that Imperial Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.

In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued "Smoking and Health," a report which concluded that "cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate."

In 1965, the Beach Boys recorded their version of "Do You Wanna Dance?" by Bobby Freeman at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood.

In 1989, nine days before leaving the White House, President Ronald Reagan bade the nation farewell in a prime-time address, saying of his eight years in office: "We meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world."

In 1995, 51 people were killed when a Colombian DC-9 jetliner crashed as it was preparing to land near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena — however, 9-year-old Erika Delgado survived.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush nominated federal judge Michael Chertoff to be Homeland Security chief, succeeding Tom Ridge. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi (EE'-yahd ah-LAH'-wee) publicly acknowledged for the first time that parts of Iraq probably wouldn't be safe enough for people to vote in upcoming elections. James Griffin, founding member of the 1970s pop group Bread, died in Franklin, Tennessee, at age 61.

Five years ago: A federal judge in San Francisco began hearing arguments in a lawsuit aimed at overturning Proposition 8, California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. (Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker later overturned the ban; his ruling was upheld on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.) Mark McGwire admitted to The Associated Press that he'd used steroids and human growth hormone when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998. Miep Gies (meep khees), the Dutch office secretary who defied Nazi occupiers to hide Anne Frank and her family for two years and saved the teenager's diary, died at age 100. French New Wave director Eric Rohmer, 89, died in Paris.

One year ago: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 85, died eight years after a devastating stroke left him in a coma. Alex Rodriguez was dealt the most severe punishment in the history of baseball's drug agreement when an arbitrator ruled the New York Yankees third baseman was suspended for the entire 2014 season as the result of a drug investigation. Gracie Gold won her first U.S. figure skating title at the championships in Boston; Charlie White and Meryl Davis won a record sixth straight U.S. ice dance title.

Thought for Today: "If you are ruled by mind you are a king; if by body, a slave." — Cato, Roman statesman and historian (234 B.C.-149 B.C.)

(Above Advance for Use Sunday, Jan. 11)