This day in history
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2024. There are 343 days left in the year.
Birthdays: Actor Chita Rivera is 91. Actor-director Lou Antonio is 90. Actor Richard Dean Anderson is 74. Rock singer Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is 71. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is 71. Princess Caroline of Monaco is 67. Singer Anita Baker is 66. Reggae musician Earl Falconer of UB40 is 65. Actor Mariska Hargitay is 60. R&B singer Marc Nelson is 53. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell is 50. Rock musician Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie is 49.
► 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 1737, John Hancock, the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence and, later, Massachusetts governor, was born in Braintree.
► In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
► 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.
► In 1964, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.
► In 1973, President Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War and would be formally signed four days later in Paris.
► In 1977, the TV mini-series “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.
► In 1982, World Airways Flight 30, a DC-10, overshot an icy runway at Logan International Airport. The plane split in two, with part of the fuselage ending up in Boston Harbor. Two passengers presumably drowned; their bodies were never found.
► In 1998, fighting scandal allegations involving Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton assured his Cabinet during a meeting that he was innocent and urged them to concentrate on their jobs.
► In 2002, John Walker Lindh, a US-born Taliban fighter, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges that he’d conspired to kill fellow Americans. (Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support for the Taliban; he was released in May 2019 after serving more than 17 years.)
► In 2012, in a rare defeat for law enforcement, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed to bar police from installing GPS technology to track suspects without first getting a judge’s approval.
► In 2020, Chinese state media said the city of Wuhan would be shutting down outbound flights and trains, trying to halt the spread of a new virus that had sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 17. The World Health Organization said the viral illness in China was not yet a global health emergency.