Video: 'American Forces led by General MacArthur land at the Lingayen Gulf and advance to...HD Stock Footage'
(Tuesday, January 9, 1945, 9:30 a.m. local time; during the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — About 68,000 men under General Walter Krueger of the U.S. 6th Army began landing today on the shores of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines as the Battle of Luzon got underway, resulting in an Allied victory over Imperial Japanese forces.
Video: 'The Beach Boys/Murry Wilson: Help Me Rhonda (Full Audio Session)'
(Friday, January 8, 1965, 1:00-4:00 p.m. PST) — As The Beach Boys entered the studio to begin recording what will become their second number one hit, “Help Me Rhonda,” a drunken Murry Wilson (the father of Beach Boys Brian, Carl and Dennis) arrived and proceeded to commandeer the session with psychodrama, scat singing and weepy, abusive melodrama.
(Wednesday, January 8, 1975; during the Watergate scandal) — Judge John J. Sirica ordered three major Watergate figures freed today, and reduced the sentences of the three — John W. Dean 3d, Herbert W. Kalmbach and Jeb Stuart Magrude — to the time they had already served.
(Wednesday, January 8, 1975) — Ella T. Grasso today became Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
Video: 'American Experience - Battle of the Bulge (PBS Documentary)' (Jan. 8, 1945, at 50:39)
(Monday, January 8, 1945; during the Battle of the Bulge on the Western Front of World War II) — Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler today authorized the withdrawal of troops from the village of Houffalize about ten miles from Bastogne, signalling the beginning of the German retreat from the Ardennes.
Video: 'Elvis Presley Biography'
(Tuesday, January 8, 1935) — Rock-and-roll legend Elvis Aaron Presley, regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, was born today in Tupelo, Mississippi. Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before him.
(Sunday, January 8, 1865; during the American Civil War) — In response to the Confederacy’s efforts to enlist African-American slaves as soldiers in the closing days of the war, Major General Howell Cobb famously wrote today in a letter sent to Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon: “if slaves make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong.”
Video: 'War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans' (3 videos)
(Sunday, January 8, 1815; during the War of 1812) — U.S. forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British today in the Battle of New Orleans, resulting in the complete withdraw of British forces from Louisiana.
The battle turned out to be the last major engagement of the War of 1812, taking place after the United States and Britain had already signed a peace treaty due to the slowness of communications at the time.
