January 2nd, 2006The huge white light and a few seconds later, it’s like somebody set off a powder keg, it shocked house, rattled the windows and everything. An explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia kills one miner and traps a dozen underground. Eleven slowly succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning but Randal McCloy Jr. is rescued after 41 hours.

1960“And we stand today on the edge of a new frontier, the frontier of the 1960s.”

John F. Kennedy says he is running for the White House. The Massachusetts Senator narrowly defeats Vice President Richard Nixon that fall.

1942Just weeks after attacking Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces capture the Philippine capital of Manila during World War II.

1935In New Jersey, Bruno Hauptman goes on trial, accused of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of aviator Charles A. Lindbergh. Hauptman is later convicted and dies in the electric chair, insisting to the end that he is innocent.

1983“Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow. You’re always a day away.”

The musical Annie, based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip, closes on Broadway after 2377 performances.

Today in History, January 2nd, Camille Bohannon, the Associated Press.