TODAY IN HISTORY

On Jan. 23, 1368, China’s Ming dynasty, which lasted nearly three centuries, began as Zhu Yuanzhang formally became emperor following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty.

In 1542 England’s King Henry VIII took the title of King of Ireland.

In 1789 Georgetown University was established in what now is Washington.

In 1845 Congress decided that all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of each November.

In 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive an M.D. degree. The Bristol, England, native was awarded her degree by the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y.

In 1920 Holland refused to surrender former German Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Allies for punishment as a World War I criminal.

In 1932 New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt committed himself to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1937, 17 Communist leaders confessed in Moscow that they had conspired with Leon Trotsky to undermine Josef Stalin’s regime.

In 1950 the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, proclaimed Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish state.

In 1964 the 24th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections.

In 1968 North Korea seized the U.S. Navy vessel Pueblo in the Sea of Japan, killed one crew member and held the other 82 as spies for 11 months.

In 1973 President Richard Nixon announced that an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.

In 1974 Israel moved tanks and troops from the western bank of the Suez Canal in its first step toward military disengagement with Egypt.

In 1977 the popular television mini-series “Roots,” based on Alex Haley’s novel, began airing on ABC.

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter announced in his State of the Union address that he would reinstate Selective Service registration and pledged military force, if necessary, to protect the Persian Gulf region from Soviet aggression.

In 1982 France signed a natural gas contract with the Soviet Union despite the objections of the Reagan administration.

In 1983 a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite plunged through the atmosphere and fell harmlessly into the Indian Ocean.