TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Jan. 1, 1818

The first edition of the Gothic novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” by English author Mary Shelley, 20, was published anonymously in London. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1785

The Daily Universal Register — which later became the Times of London — published its first issue.

1863

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states shall be “forever free.”

1913

The U.S. Parcel Post system went into operation.

1943

The Walt Disney wartime animated short “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” starring Donald Duck in a satire of Nazi Germany, was released.

1953

Country singer Hank Williams Sr., 29, was discovered dead in the back seat of his car during a stop in Oak Hill, West Virginia, while he was being driven to a concert date in Canton, Ohio.

1959

Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrew Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista, who fled to the Dominican Republic.

1975

A jury in Washington found Nixon administration officials John N. Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman and Robert C. Mardian guilty of charges related to the Watergate cover-up.

1979

The United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between them.