TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1979

President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.

1820

King George III died at Windsor Castle at age 81; he was succeeded by his son, who became King George IV.

1845

Edgar Allan Poe’s famous narrative poem “The Raven” was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.

1919

The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.

1936

The first inductees of baseball’s Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, New York.

1975

A bomb exploded inside the U.S. State Department in Washington, causing considerable damage, but injuring no one; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility.

1984

President Ronald Reagan announced in a nationally broadcast message that he and Vice President George H.W. Bush would seek reelection in the fall.

1998

A bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons.

2002

In his first State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said terrorists were still threatening America — and he warned of “an axis of evil” consisting of North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

2006

ABC “World News Tonight” co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

2015

Rod Mckuen, whose music, verse and spoken-word recordings made him one of the best-selling poets in history, died at 81.