On this day in history - Today, January, 8

Today in History

• 1790 George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address

  The U.S. president typically uses this annual speech to outline his political agenda.

• 1889 Computer pioneer Herman Hollerith patents his punched card calculator

  His invention paved the way for modern automatic computation.

• 1912 The African National Congress (ANC) is founded

  The ANC, whose most famous member is Nelson Mandela, played an important role in the fight against t

• 1959 Charles de Gaulle becomes president of France

  His right-wing political ideology, Gaullism, still influences French politics today.

• 1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov begins his record spaceflight

  Polyakov stayed aboard the Mir space station for a record-breaking 437 days and 18 hours.