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This day in history

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2016. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today’s birthdays: Pollster Louis Harris is 95. Former baseball All-Star Ralph Branca is 90. Former FBI director Louis Freeh is 66. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson is 61. Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 59. Movie director John Singleton is 48. Actress Cristela Alonzo is 37. Actress Rinko Kikuchi is 35. Actor Eddie Redmayne is 34. NBA player Gilbert Arenas is 34. Comedian Kate McKinnon is 32. Rock singer Alex Turner is 30.

In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph in Morristown, N.J.

In 1945, George Herbert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, N.Y.

In 1974, year-round daylight saving time began in the United States on a trial basis as a fuel-saving measure in response to the OPEC oil embargo.

In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg at Detroit’s Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for the attack. (Harding denied knowing about the plans.)

In 2001, with Vice President Al Gore presiding (as president of the Senate), Congress certified George W. Bush the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.

In 2015, in a blend of pageantry and politics, Republicans took complete control of Congress. Former Red Sox star hurler Pedro Martinez joined pitchers Randy Johnson and John Smoltz and all-purpose player Craig Biggio in being named to the Baseball Hall of Fame.