DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Saturday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2021. There are 342 days left in the year.
On this date in:
1812: The second New Madrid Earthquake struck, with an estimated magnitude of 7.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
1845: Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
1937: 17 people went on trial in Moscow during Josef Stalin’s “Great Purge.” (All were convicted of conspiracy; all but four were executed.)
1950: The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
1962: Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Tony Bennett recorded “I
Left My Heart in San Francisco” in New York for Columbia Records.
1964: The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.
1968: North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, commanded by Lloyd “Pete” Bucher, charging its crew with being on a spying mission; one sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. (Cmdr. Bucher and his crew were released the following December after enduring 11 months of brutal captivity at the hands of the North Koreans.)
1973: President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War, and would be formally signed four days later in Paris.
1977: The TV mini-series “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.
1998: A judge in Fairfax, Virginia, sentenced Aimal Khan Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two men and wounded three other people. (Kasi was executed in November 2002.)
2002: John Walker Lindh, a U.s.born Taliban fighter, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges that he’d conspired to kill fellow Americans. (Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support for the Taliban; he was released in May, 2019, after serving more than 17 years.)
2009: President Barack Obama quietly ended the Bush administration’s ban on giving federal money to international groups that performed abortions or provided information on the option.
Actor Chita Rivera is 88. Actor-director Lou Antonio (“Cool Hand Luke”) is 87. Jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton is 78. Actor Gil Gerard is 78. Singer Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters is 73. Bassist-keyboardist Bill Cunningham of The Box Tops is 71. Actor Richard Dean Anderson (“Macgyver”) is 71. Singer-guitarist Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is 68. Singer Anita Baker is 63. Bassist Earl Falconer of UB40 is 62. Actor Peter Mackenzie (“blackish”) is 60. Actor Boris Mcgiver (“House of Cards”) is 59. Actor Gail O’grady (“NYPD Blue”) is 58. Actor Mariska Hargitay (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) is 57. “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’donnell is 47.