Today in History: January 8, Lyndon Johnson declares war on poverty'

"Today is Thursday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2026. There are 357 days left in the year. Today in history: On Jan. 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared an unconditional war on poverty in America. Also on this date: In 1790, President George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York City."

"In 1815, the last major engagement of the War of 1812 came to an end as U.S. forces defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, not having received word of the December signing of a peace treaty. In 1867, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in overriding President Andrew Johnson's veto of the District of Columbia Suffrage Act, giving Black men in the nation's capital the right to vote."

"In 2016, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the world's most-wanted drug lord, was captured for a third time in a daring raid by Mexican marines, six months after walking through a tunnel to freedom from a maximum-security prison. In 2020, Iran struck back at the United States for killing Iran's top military commander, firing missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing American troops. More than 100 U.S. service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries later."

Jan. 8 features multiple historical events across U.S. and global history. In 1790, George Washington delivered the first State of the Union in New York City; in 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson declared an unconditional war on poverty. In 1815 U.S. forces won the Battle of New Orleans despite not knowing a peace treaty had been signed. In 1867 Congress overrode a presidential veto to extend voting rights to Black men in the District of Columbia. Other notable events are the 1998 life sentence for Ramzi Yousef, the 2011 Tucson shooting that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, El Chapo's 2016 capture, and 2020 missile strikes and a mistaken plane shootdown.

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