TODAY IN WORLD 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 Jan. 21, 1942, pinball machines were banned in New York City by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia after a court ruled they were gambling devices that relied on chance rather than skill (the ban was lifted in 1976).
On this date • In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the 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 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 (on this date in 1942, they re-recorded the song for Okeh Records).
• In 1977, on his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
• In 1997, Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted for the first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct.
On Jan. 22 • In 1498, during his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the present-day Caribbean island of St. Vincent.
• In 1901, Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81 after a reign of 63 years; she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII.
• In 1922, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.
• In 1938, Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” was performed publicly for the first time in Princeton, New Jersey.
• In 1947, America’s first commercially licensed television station west of the Mississippi, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, made its official debut.
• In 1957, George P. Metesky, suspected of being the “Mad Bomber” who injured 15 people over a 16-year period, was arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut. (Metesky was later found mentally ill and committed until 1973; he died in 1994.)
• In 1968, “Rowan & Martin’s LaughIn” premiered on NBC-TV.
• In 1970, the first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York and ended in London some 6 1/2 hours later.
• In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, legalized abortions using a trimester approach. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at his Texas ranch at age 64.
• In 1997, the Senate unanimously confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation’s first female secretary of state.
• In 2008, actor Heath Ledger was found dead of an accidental prescription overdose in New York City; he was 28.
On Jan. 23 • In 1516, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, who with his late queen consort, Isabella of Castile, sponsored the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, died in Madrigalejo, Spain.
• In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.
• In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
• In 1937, 17 people went on trial in Moscow during Josef Stalin’s “Great Purge.” (All were convicted of conspiracy; all but four were executed.)
• In 1950, the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
• In 1964, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.
• In 1968, North Korea seized the Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released 11 months later.)
• In 1977, the original TV mini-series “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.