Today is Tuesday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2026. There are 359 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Jan. 6, 2005, former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was indicted on murder charges 41 years after three civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in prison in 2018.)
Also on this date:
In 1919, former President Theodore Roosevelt died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of “Four Freedoms” — human rights worthy of defending universally: freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in one’s own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
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. The country, however, returned to standard time in October, effectively ending the experiment.
In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the “Freeway Killer” slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)
In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroit’s Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution but denied any advance knowledge about the assault.)
In 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and stormed into the U.S. Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, forcing lawmakers into hiding. A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by police as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway inside the Capitol. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, injured while confronting the rioters, suffered a stroke the next day and died from natural causes. Congress reconvened hours later to finish certifying Biden’s victory. In January 2025 — on the first day of his second term — Trump granted blanket clemency to more than 1,500 people convicted or awaiting trial or sentencing for Jan. 6 offenses.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson, who played Mr. Bean, is 71.
- Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 69.
- TV chef Nigella Lawson is 66.
- Football Hall of Famer Howie Long is 66.
- Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley is 62.
- Actor Norman Reedus is 57.
- TV personality Julie Chen Moonves is 56.
- Actor Eddie Redmayne is 44.
- Actor-comedian Kate McKinnon is 42.
- Businessman Eric Trump is 42.
- Entrepreneur and yoga instructor Hilaria Baldwin is 42.
