On This Date in History . . .

Today is Wednesday, January 8th. Here are a few things that happened on this date in history . . . 

On this date in 1790, America’s first president, George Washington, delivered the very first State of the Union address to Congress, which at the time was sitting in New York City. He said, among other things, that education and knowledge were the surest foundations for happiness and for a nation to flourish.

On this date in 1835 the United States Treasury Department reported to Congress, for the first and only time in history, that the National Debt stood at zero. As explained by a clerk in the Treasury Department, this was mostly because of the high tariffs the country charged, and the lack of any current military conflicts with other nations.

On this date in 1926, Ibn Saud was crowned the first king of Hejaz and Nejd on the Arabian peninsula, which, in turn, became Saudi Arabia. That same year the first vast oil fields were opened on the peninsula, making Ibn Saud the sudden boon companion of kings, presidents, and prime ministers around the world.

And on this date in 1954 a young Elvis Presley recorded his first hit single, ‘Casual Love,’ in a studio in Memphis, Tennessee. His manager hadn’t bothered to pay the rent for the recording studio, so Elvis paid the four dollars out of his own pocket.