TODAY IN HISTORY

SUNDAY JAN 16, 2022 1991

The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

1865

Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman decreed that 400,000acres of land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former slaves.

1912

A day before reaching the South Pole, British explorer Robert Scott and his expedition found evidence that Roald Amundsen of Norway and his team had gotten there ahead of them.

1919

Pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski became the first premier of the newly created Republic of Poland.

1920

Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification.

1942

Actor Carole Lombard, 33, her mother, Elizabeth, and 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nevada, while en route to California from a war-bond promotion tour.

1987

Hu Yaobang resigned as head of China’s Communist Party, declaring he’d made mistakes in dealing with student turmoil and intellectual challenges to the system.

1989

three days of rioting began in Miami when a police officer fatally shot Clement Lloyd, a Black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of Lloyd’s passenger, Allan Blanchard.

2002

Richard Reid was indicted in Boston on federal charges alleging he’d tried to blow up a U.s.-bound jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes.

2003

The space shuttle Columbia blasted off for what turned out to be its last flight; on board was Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon.

2007

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois launched his successful bid for the White House.