Today’s highlight in history
On Jan. 18, 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
On this date
In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the Sandwich Islands.
In 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.
In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, held to negotiate peace treaties ending the First World War, opened in Versailles, France.
In 1943, during World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops, who eventually succeeded in crushing the rebellion.
In 1943, a U.S. ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread — aimed at reducing bakeries’ demand for metal replacement parts — went into effect.
In 1957, a trio of B-52s completed the first nonstop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft.
In 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the “Boston Strangler,” was convicted in Cambridge, Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo was killed in prison in 1973.)
Ten years ago: Truck driver Tyrone Williams was sentenced by a federal court in Houston to life in prison for his role in the deaths of 19 immigrants crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone XL project, a Canadian company’s plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry oil across six U.S. states to Texas refineries.
One year ago: For the first time in 17 years, civil rights leaders gathered at the South Carolina Statehouse to pay homage to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. without the Confederate flag present; it was one of many rallies throughout the country.