Today in history
On Jan. 16, 27 B.C., Caesar Augustus was declared the first Emperor of the Roman Empire by the Senate.
In 1547 Ivan the Terrible was crowned czar of Russia.
In 1883 the U.S. Civil Service Commission was established.
In 1919 Nebraska, Wyoming and Missouri became the 36th, 37th and 38th states to ratify Prohibition, which went into effect a year later.
In 1920 Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.)
In 1935 fugitive gangster Fred Barker and his mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, were killed in a shootout with the FBI at Lake Weir, Florida.
In 1942 actress Carole Lombard, her mother and about 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas while returning from a war-bond promotion tour.
In 1944 Gen. Dwight Eisenhower took command of the Allied Invasion Force in London.
In 1957 three B-52’s took off from Castle Air Force Base in California on the first nonstop, round-the-world flight by jet planes. (The trip lasted 45 hours and 19 minutes.)
In 1967 Alan Boyd was sworn in as the first secretary of transportation.
In 1969 two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel.
In 1979 Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi departed Iran for Egypt; he never returned.
In 1985 Reuben Anderson was sworn in as Mississippi’s first black justice on the state Supreme Court.
In 1988 Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was fired as a CBS Sports commentator, one day after making controversial remarks about black athletes to a Washington television station.
In 1989 three days of rioting erupted in Miami when a police officer shot a black motorcyclist, resulting in the death of the cyclist and a passenger.
In 1991 the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
In 1992 officials of the government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that had left at least 75,000 people dead.
In 2001 Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on their first tries.
In 2002 Richard Reid was indicted in Boston on federal charges alleging he had tried to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes.
In 2003 the space shuttle Columbia blasted off with Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. (The mission ended in tragedy Feb. 1, when the shuttle burned up during its return, killing all seven crew members.)