TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23, the 23rd day of 2019. There are 342 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
In 1368, China’s Ming dynasty, which lasted nearly three centuries, began as Zhu Yuanzhang was formally acclaimed emperor following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty.
In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.
In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called “Lame Duck Amendment,” was ratified as Missouri approved it.
In 1950, the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
In 1962, Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Tony Bennett recorded “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in New York for Columbia Records.
In 1964, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.
In 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, commanded by Lloyd “Pete” Bucher, charging its crew with being on a spying mission; one sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. (Cmdr. Bucher and his crew were released the following December after enduring 11 months of brutal captivity at the hands of the North Koreans.)
In 1978, rock musician Terry Kath, a key member of the group Chicago, accidentally shot himself to death following a party in Woodland Hills, Calif.; he was 31.
In 1989, surrealist artist Salvador Dali died in his native Figueres, Spain, at age 84. In 1998, a judge in Fairfax, Va., sentenced Aimal Khan Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two men and wounded three other people. (Kasi was executed in November 2002.) In 2005, former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson died in Los Angeles at age 79.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Chita Rivera is 86. Actor-director Lou Antonio is 85. Jazz musician Gary Burton and actor Gil Gerard are 76. Actor Rutger Hauer and rhythm-and-blues singer Jerry Lawson are 75. Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., is 72. Singer Anita Pointer is 71. Actor Richard Dean Anderson and rock musician Bill Cunningham are 69. Rock singer Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are 66. Princess Caroline of Monaco is 62. Singer Anita Baker is 61. Reggae musician Earl Falconer (UB40) is 60. Actor Boris McGiver is 57. Actress Gail O’Grady is 56. Actress Mariska Hargitay is 55. Rhythm-and-blues singer Marc Nelson is 48. TV host Norah O’Donnell and actress Tiffani Thiessen are 45. Rock musician Nick Harmer (Death Cab for Cutie) is 44. Actress Lindsey Kraft is 39. Christian rock musician Nick DePartee (Kutless) is 34. Singer-actress Rachel Crow is 21.