TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16, the 16th day of 2019. There are 349 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.)
In 27 B.C., Caesar Augustus was declared the first Emperor of the Roman Empire by the Senate.
In 1547, Ivan IV of Russia (popularly known as “Ivan the Terrible”) was crowned Czar.
In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former slaves. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, is believed to have inspired the expression “forty acres and a mule.”)
In 1912, a day before reaching the South Pole, British explorer Robert Scott and his expedition found evidence that Roald Amundsen of Norway and his team had gotten there ahead of them.
In 1935, fugitive gangster Fred Barker and his mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, were killed in a shootout with the FBI at Lake Weir, Fla.
In 1942, actress Carole Lombard, 33, her mother, Elizabeth, and 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nev., while en route to California from a war-bond promotion tour.
In 1978, NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America’s first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford Jr., who became America’s first black astronaut in space.
In 1989, three days of rioting began in Miami when a police officer fatally shot Clement Lloyd, a black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of Lloyd’s passenger, Allan Blanchard. (The officer, William Lozano, was convicted of manslaughter, but then acquitted in a retrial.)
In 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Allied forces prevailed on Feb. 28, 1991.)
In 1992, officials of the government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that had left at least 75,000 people dead.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off for what turned out to be its last flight; on board was Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. (The mission ended in tragedy on Feb. 1, when the shuttle broke up during its return descent, killing all seven crew members.)
In 2007, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., launched his successful bid for the White House.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Author William Kennedy is 91. Author-editor Norman Podhoretz is 89. Opera singer Marilyn Horne is 85. Hall of Fame auto racer A.J. Foyt is 84. Singer Barbara Lynn is 77. Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 76. Singer Katherine Anderson Schaffner (The Marvelettes) and country singer Jim Stafford are 75. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 72. Movie director John Carpenter is 71. Actressdancer-choreographer Debbie Allen is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Maxine Jones (En Vogue), singer Sade and pop/rock singer-songwriter Jill Sobule are 60. Rock musician Paul Webb (Talk Talk) is 57. Actor David Chokachi is 51. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is 50. Actor-writer-director Josh Evans and actor-comedian Jonathan Mangum are 48. Actor Richard T. Jones is 47. Actress Josie Davis is 46. Model Kate Moss is 45. Actor-playwright LinManuel Miranda and country musician James Young (The Eli Young Band) are 39. Rock musician Nick Valensi (The Strokes) is 38. Actress Renee Felice Smith and NFL quarterback Joe Flacco are 34.