TODAY IN HISTORY
On Jan. 11, 2020, health authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan reported the first death from what had been identified as a new type of coronavirus; the patient was a 61-year-old man who had been a frequent customer at a food market linked to the majority of cases there.
Also on this date
In 1861, Alabama became the fourth state to withdraw from the Union.
In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon National Monument. (It became a national park in 1919.)
In 1913, the first enclosed sedantype automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th National Automobile Show in New York.
In 1927, the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was proposed during a dinner of Hollywood luminaries at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, that made her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.
In 1943, the United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.
In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report that concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.”
In 2001, the Army acknowledged that U.S. soldiers killed an “unknown number” of South Korean refugees early in the Korean War at No Gun Ri, but said there was no evidence they were ordered to do so.
In 2010, Miep Gies, the Dutch office secretary who defied Nazi occupiers to hide Anne Frank and her family for two years and saved the teenager’s diary, died at age 100.
Ten years ago: During a public Mass at St. Odilia Catholic Church in Tucson, Arizona, several hundred mourners remembered the victims of the shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Five years ago: Northern Ireland lawmakers appointed Arlene Foster as the first female leader of their unity government.
One year ago: Iran admitted that its military had “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian jetliner three days earlier, killing all 176 people aboard. The statement blamed “human error” for the shootdown, which took place hours after Iran launched missiles at U.S. forces.