Today’s highlight in history
On Jan. 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit.
On this date
In 1773, the first public museum in America was organized in Charleston, S.C.
In 1910, at a White House dinner hosted by President William Howard Taft, Baroness Rosen, wife of the Russian ambassador, caused a stir by requesting and smoking a cigarette — it was, apparently, the first time a woman had smoked openly during a public function in the executive mansion. (Some of the other women present who had brought their own cigarettes began lighting up in turn.)
In 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected, 204-174, a proposed constitutional amendment to give women nationwide the right to vote.
In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate after initially being appointed to serve out the remainder of the term of her late husband, Thaddeus.
In 1966, the TV series “Batman,” starring Adam West and Burt Ward, premiered on ABC, airing twice a week on consecutive nights.
In 1971, the groundbreaking situation comedy “All in the Family” premiered on CBS television.
In 1986, the shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.
Ten years ago: Two kidnapped boys, Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck, were found alive in the same suburban St. Louis apartment — four days after Ben vanished and 41⁄2 years after Shawn disappeared. (The boys’ abductor, Michael Devlin, is serving multiple life terms for kidnapping and sexual assault.)
Five years ago: Pentagon leaders scrambled to contain damage from an internet video purporting to show four Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. (The Marine Corps later announced that three Marines had received administrative punishments in connection with this incident.) One year ago: The St. Louis Rams’ move back to Los Angeles was approved by 30 of 32 NFL owners.