TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JAN. 21, the 21st day of 2017. There are 344 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1942, pinball machines were banned in New York City by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia after a court ruled they were gambling devices. (The ban was lifted in 1976.) In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed by guillotine. In 1861, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four other Southerners whose states had seceded from the Union resigned from the U.S. Senate.
In 1908, New York City’s Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance prohibiting women from smoking in public establishments. (The measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr., but not before one woman, Katie Mulcahey, was jailed overnight for refusing to pay a fine). In 1915, the first Kiwanis Club, dedicated to community service, was founded in Detroit. In 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.
In 1937, Count Basie and his band recorded “One O’Clock Jump” for Decca Records. In 1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton,
Conn.
In 1968, In Greenland, an American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.
In 1977, on his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
In 2010, a bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, vastly increased the power of big business and labor unions by freeing them to spend millions directly to sway national elections.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Ann Wedgeworth is 83. World Golf Hall of Famer Jack Nicklaus is 77. Opera singer-conductor Placido Domingo is 76. Singer Mac Davis is 75. Actress Jill Eikenberry and country musician Jimmy Ibbotson are 70. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is 66. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is 64. Actor-director Robby Benson and actress Geena Davis are 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon is 54. Actress Charlotte Ross is 49. Actor Vincent Laresca is 43. Singer Emma Bunton (Spice Girls) is 41. Actor Jerry Trainor is 40. Country singer Phil Stacey is 39.