Today in History

Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023

Today is Sunday, Jan. 29, the 29th day of 2023. There are 336days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 29, 1936, the first inductees of baseball’s Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, New York.

On this date:

In 1820, King George III died at Windsor Castle at age 81; he was succeeded by his son, who became King George IV. In 1919, the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.

In 1929, The Seeing Eye, a New Jersey-based school which trains guide dogs to assist the blind, was incorporated by Dorothy Harrison Eustis and Morris Frank. In 1963, the first charter members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio (they were enshrined when the Hall opened in September 1963). Poet Robert Frost died in Boston at age 88.

In 1964, Stanley Kubrick’s nuclear war satire “Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” premiered in New York, Toronto and London. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping (dung shah-ohping) to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced in a nationally broadcast message that he and Vice President George H.W. Bush would seek reelection in the fall. In 1995, the San Francisco 49ers became the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles, beating the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX.

In 1998, a bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003and is serving a life sentence.)

In 2002, in his first State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said terrorists were still threatening America — and he warned of “an axis of evil” consisting of North Korea, Iran and Iraq. In 2007, Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized because of medical complications eight months after his gruesome breakdown at the Preakness. In 2020, world health officials expressed concern that the coronavirus was starting to spread between people outside China. A charter flight evacuating 195 Americans, including diplomats and their families, left the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the new viral outbreak.

Ten years ago: BP PLC closed the book on the Justice Department’s criminal probe of its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with a U.S. judge agreeing to let the London-based oil giant plead guilty to manslaughter charges for the deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record $4 billion in penalties. The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, 94-3.

Five years ago: FBI Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe, a target of frequent criticism and accusations of bias from President Donald Trump, abruptly stepped down from his position ahead of his planned retirement in the spring. The Cleveland Indians announced that they would remove the Chief Wahoo logo from their uniforms in the coming baseball season, after decades of protests and complaints that the grinning, redfaced caricature was racist. One year ago: A winter storm lashed the Northeast with deep snow and wind gusts near hurricane force, causing coastal flooding and widespread power outages. Ash Barty won the Australian Open women’s final in straight sets against Danielle Collins to end a 44-year drought for Aussies at their home Grand Slam tournament. Actor Howard Hesseman, who played a radio DJ on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” and a teacher on “Head of the Class,” died in Los Angeles at 81.

Today’s birthdays: Feminist author Germaine Greer is 84. Actor Katharine Ross is 83. Feminist author Robin Morgan is 82. Actor Tom Selleck is 78. R&B singer Bettye Lavette is 77. Actor Marc Singer is

75. Actor Ann Jillian is 73. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 70. R&B singer Charlie Wilson is 70. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is

69. Actor Terry Kinney is 69. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 67. Actor Diane Delano is

66. Actor Judy Norton (TV: “The Waltons”) is 65. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato is 64. Olympic goldmedal diver Greg Louganis is 63. Rock musician David Baynton-power (James) is

62. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 62. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 61. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 59. Actor-director Edward Burns is 55. Actor Sam Trammell is

54. Actor Heather Graham is

53. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-wis., is 53. Actor Sharif Atkins is 48. Actor Sara Gilbert is 48. Actor Kelly Packard is 48. Actor Justin Hartley is 46. Actor Sam Jaeger is 46. Writer and TV personality Jedediah Bila is

44. Actor Andrew Keegan is 44. Actor Jason James Richter is 43. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 42. Pop-rock singer Adam Lambert (TV: “American Idol”) is 41. Country singer Eric Paslay is 40.

Monday, Jan. 30, 2023

Today is Monday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2023. There are 335 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.

On this date:

In 1649, England’s King Charles I was executed for high treason.

In 1911, James White, an intellectually disabled Black young man who’d been convicted of rape for having sex with a 14-year-old white girl when he was 16, was publicly hanged in Bell County, Kentucky.

In 1945, during World War II, a Soviet submarine torpedoed the German ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea with the loss of more than 9,000lives, most of them war refugees; roughly 1,000 people survived. In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse (neh-toorahm’ gahd-say’), a Hindu extremist. (Godse and a co-conspirator were later executed.)

In 1968, the Tet Offensive began during the Vietnam War as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese towns and cities; although the Communists were beaten back, the offensive was seen as a major setback for the U.S. and its allies.

In 1969, The Beatles staged an impromptu concert atop Apple headquarters in London; it was the group’s last public performance.

In 1972, 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

In 1981, an estimated 2million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker tape parade honoring the American hostages freed from Iran.

In 1993, Los Angeles inaugurated its Metro Red Line, the city’s first modern subway. In 2005, Iraqis voted in their country’s first free election in a half-century; President George W. Bush called the balloting a resounding success.

In 2006, Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, at age 78. In 2020, health officials reported the first known case in which the new coronavirus was spread from one person to another in the United States. The World Health Organization declared the virus outbreak, which had reached more than a dozen countries, to be a global emergency. Russia ordered the closure of its 2,600-mile-long land border with China in an effort to limit the spread of the virus. President Donald Trump described the handful of U.S. cases of the virus as a “very little problem” and said those people were “recuperating successfully.” The State Department advised U.S. citizens against traveling to China.

Ten years ago: In a dramatic appeal before the Senate Judiciary Committee, wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords urged Congress to enact tougher curbs on guns, saying, “too many children are dying” without them. Israel conducted a rare airstrike on a military target inside Syria amid fears President Bashar Assad’s regime could provide powerful weapons to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah. Patty Andrews, 94, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio, died in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge.

Five years ago: In his first State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called on Congress to make good on long-standing promises to fix a fractured immigration system and issued ominous warnings about deadly gangs, the scourge of drugs and violent immigrants living in the country illegally; the speech also included calls for optimism amid a growing economy. In the Democratic response, Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III said soaring stock prices had boosted investor portfolios and corporate profits but had not eased the anxieties of middle-class families. The body of 35-year-old actor Mark Salling, a former cast member on the TV show “Glee,” was found in a riverbed area of Los Angeles in what a coroner determined was suicide by hanging; Salling’s death came a few weeks after he pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

One year ago: Matching the biggest comeback in an AFC championship game, the Cincinnati Bengals rallied from an 18-point hole to stun the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24in overtime. The Los Angeles Rams rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to secure a spot in the Super Bowl at their home stadium with a 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game. (The Rams would beat the Bengals 23-20 in the Super Bowl two weeks later.) Spotify said it would add content advisories before podcasts discussing the coronavirus; the move followed protests of the music streaming service that were kicked off by singer Neil Young over the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Gene Hackman is 93. Actor Vanessa Redgrave is 86. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 86. Country singer Norma Jean is 85. Horn player William King of The Commodores is 74. Musician Phil Collins is 72. Actor Charles S. Dutton (“Roc”) is 72. Actor Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) is 67. Comedian Brett Butler (“Anger Management,” ″Grace Under Fire”) is 65. Singer Jody Watley is 64. Actor Wayne Wilderson (“Veep”) is 57. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 51. Actor Christian Bale is 49. Guitarist Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket is 49. Actor Olivia Colman is 49. Singer Josh Kelley is 43. Actor Wilmer Valderrama (“That ‘70s Show”) is 43. Actor Mary Hollis Inboden (“The Real O’neals”) is 37. Actor Kylie Bunbury (“Big Sky,” “Pitch”) is 34. Actor Jake Thomas (“Lizzie Mcguire,” ″AI”) is 33. Actor Danielle Campbell (“Tell Me A Story,” “The Originals”) is 28.