TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, JAN. 1, the first day of 2018. There are 364 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1818, the first edition of the Gothic novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” by English author Mary Shelley, 20, was published anonymously in London.
In 1785, The Daily Universal Register — which later became the Times of London — published its first issue.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states shall be “forever free.” In 1913, the U.S. Parcel Post system went into operation.
In 1943, the Walt Disney wartime animated short “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” starring Donald Duck in a satire of Nazi Germany, was released.
In 1953, country singer Hank Williams Sr., 29, was discovered dead in the back seat of his car during a stop in Oak Hill, W.Va., while he was being driven to a concert date in Canton, Ohio.
In 1959, Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrew Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista, who fled to the Dominican Republic.
In 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. Mardian’s conviction for conspiracy was later overturned on appeal.
In 1979, the United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In 1984, the breakup of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.
In 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.
In 2014, the nation’s first legal recreational pot shops opened in Colorado at 8 a.m. Mountain time.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., is 96. Documentary maker Frederick Wiseman is 88. Actor Frank Langella is 80. Rock singer-musician Country Joe McDonald is 76. Writer-comedian Don Novello is 75. Actor Rick Hurst is 72. Country singer Steve Ripley (The Tractors) is 68. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is 64. The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, is 62. Actress Renn Woods is 60. Actress Dedee Pfeiffer is 54. Country singer Brian Flynn (Flynnville Train) is 52. Actors Morris Chestnut and Verne Troyer are 49. Rhythm and blues singer Tank is 42. Model Elin Nordegren is 38. Actor Jonas Armstrong and actress Eden Riegel are 37. Olympic gold medal ice dancer Meryl Davis is 31. Rock musician Noah Sierota (Echosmith) is 22.