TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1, the 32nd day of 2017. There are 333 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1942, during World War II, the Voice of America broadcast its first program to Europe.
In 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time in New York.
In 1865, during the Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman began the Carolinas Campaign as they invaded South Carolina.
In 1943, one of America’s most highly decorated military units, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of Japanese-Americans, was authorized.
In 1946, Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.
In 1959, men in Switzerland rejected giving women the right to vote by a more than 2-1 referendum margin. (Swiss women gained the right to vote in 1971.)
In 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C.
In 1968, Richard M. Nixon announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.
In 1982, “Late Night with David Letterman” premiered on NBC.
In 1992, Ron Carey was sworn in as the first Teamsters president elected by the union’s rank and file.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Folk singer Bob Shane (The Kingston Trio) is 83. Singers Don Everly and Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) are 80. TV personality-singer Joy Philbin is 76. Political commentator Fred Barnes is 74. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is 73. Opera singer Carol Neblett is 71. Blues singermusician Sonny Landreth is 66. Rock singer Exene Cervenka is 61. Princess Stephanie of Monaco, country musician Dwayne Dupuy (Ricochet) and actress Sherilyn Fenn are 52. Lisa Marie Presley and comedian-actor Pauly Shore are 49. Actor Brian Krause, jazz musician Joshua Redman and rock musician Patrick Wilson (Weezer) are 48. Rapper Big Boi (Outkast) is 42. Actor Jarrett Lennon is 35. TV personality Lauren Conrad is 31. Actress-singer Heather Morris, and actress and mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey are 30.