TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, JAN. 30, the 30th day of 2020. There are 336 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.
In 1649, England’s King Charles I was executed for high treason.
In 1931, the Charles Chaplin feature “City Lights” had its world premiere in Los Angeles.
In 1945, during World War II, a Soviet submarine torpedoed the German ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea with the loss of more than 9,000 lives, most of them war refugees; roughly 1,000 people survived.
In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. (Godse and a co-conspirator were later executed.)
In 1962, two members of “The Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit.
In 1968, the Tet Offensive began during the Vietnam War as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese towns and cities; although the Communists were beaten back, the offensive was seen as a major setback for the U.S. and its allies.
In 1969, The Beatles staged an impromptu concert atop Apple headquarters in London; it was the group’s last public performance.
In 1972, 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
In 1974, President Richard Nixon delivered what would be his last State of the Union address; Nixon pledged to rein in rising prices without the “harsh medicine of recession” and establish a national health care plan that every American could afford.
In 1981, an estimated 2 million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the American hostages freed from Iran.
In 2005, Iraqis voted in their country’s first free election in a half-century; President George W. Bush called the balloting a resounding success.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Gene Hackman is 90. Actress Vanessa Redgrave, country singer Jeanne Pruett and chess grandmaster Boris Spassky are 83. Country singer Norma Jean is 82. Rhythm-and-blues musician William King (The Commodores) is 71. Singer Phil Collins and actor Charles S. Dutton are 69. World Golf Hall-ofFamer Curtis Strange is 65. Actress Ann Dowd is 64. Actress-comedian Brett Butler is 62. Singer Jody Watley is 61. Actor-filmmaker Dexter Scott King is 59. Actor Wayne Wilderson (TV: “Veep”) is 54. Actor Norbert Leo Butz is 53. The King of Spain, Felipe VI, is 52. Actor Christian Bale, rock musician Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) and actress Olivia Colman are 46. Actress-singer Lena Hall, pop-country singer-songwriter Josh Kelley and actor Wilmer Valderrama are 40. Actress Kylie Bunbury is 31. Actor Jake Thomas is 30. Actress Danielle Campbell is 25.