TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 2020

Chinese state media said a preliminary investigation into recent cases of viral pneumonia had identified the probable cause as a new type of coronavirus.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1788

Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1793

Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew from Philadelphia to Woodbury, New Jersey.

1861

Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union, the same day the Star of the West, a merchant vessel bringing reinforcements and supplies to Federal troops at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, retreated because of artillery fire.

1913

Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, California.

1916

The World War I Battle of Gallipoli ended after eight months with an Ottoman Empire victory as Allied forces withdrew.

1945

During World War II, American forces began landing on the shores of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines as the Battle of Luzon got underway, resulting in an Allied victory over Imperial Japanese forces.

1951

The United Nations headquarters in New York officially opened.

1958

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his State of the Union address to Congress, warned of the threat of Communist imperialism.

1987

The White House released a January 1986memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North showing a link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.