TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JAN. 16, the 16th day of 2021. There are 349 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 2020, the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump opened in the Senate, with senators standing and swearing an oath of “impartial justice.” Trump again denounced the proceedings as a “hoax,” while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said new evidence reinforced the need to call additional witnesses. In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former slaves. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, is believed to have inspired the expression “Forty acres and a mule.”) In 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. In 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. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.) In 1969, two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel. In 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. (The officer, William Lozano, was convicted of manslaughter, but acquitted in a retrial.) In 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Allied forces prevailed on Feb. 28, 1991.)
In 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. (Reid later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.) In 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. (The mission ended in tragedy on Feb. 1, when the shuttle broke up during its return descent, killing all seven crew members.) In 2006, Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was sworn in as Liberia’s new president. In 2007, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois launched his successful bid for the White House. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Author William Kennedy is 93. Author-editor Norman Podhoretz is 91. Opera singer Marilyn Horne is 87. Hall of Fame auto racer A.J. Foyt is 86. Singer Barbara Lynn is 79. Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 78. Singer Katherine Anderson Schaffner (The Marvelettes) and country singer Jim Stafford are 77. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 74. Movie director John Carpenter is 73. Actordancer-choreographer Debbie Allen is 71. Rhythm-and-blues singer Maxine Jones (En Vogue), singer Sade and pop/rock singer-songwriter Jill Sobule are 62. Rock musician Paul Webb (Talk Talk) is 59. Actor David Chokachi is 53. Actor-writer-director Josh Evans and actor-comedian Jonathan Mangum are 50. Actor Richard T. Jones is 49. Actor Josie Davis is 48. Model Kate Moss is 47. Actor-playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and country musician James Young (The Eli Young Band) are 41. Rock musician Nick Valensi (The Strokes) is 40. Actor Yvonne Zima is 32.