Today in History

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 31, the 31st day of 2023. There are 334days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 31, 1958, the United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite, Explorer 1, from Cape Canaveral. On this date:

In 1797, composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna. In 1863, during the Civil War, the First South Carolina Volunteers, an all-black Union regiment composed of many escaped slaves, was mustered into federal service at Beaufort, South Carolina.

In 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery, sending it to states for ratification. (The amendment was adopted in December 1865.) In 1919, baseball Hall-of-famer Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia.

In 1945, Pvt. Eddie Slovik, 24, became the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.

In 1961, NASA launched Ham the Chimp aboard a Mercuryredstone rocket from Cape Canaveral; Ham was recovered safely from the Atlantic Ocean following his 16 1⁄2-minute suborbital flight.

In 1971, astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14on a mission to the moon.

In 2000, an Alaska Airlines Md-83jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Port Hueneme (wy-nee’-mee), California, killing all 88people aboard. In 2001, a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Abdel Basset Ali al-megrahi was given a life sentence, but was released after eight years on compassionate grounds by Scotland’s government. He died in 2012.)

In 2015, Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late singer Whitney Houston, was found unresponsive in a bathtub at her Georgia townhome and was taken to an Atlanta-area hospital. (She died six months later.)

In 2016, Novak Djokovic maintained his perfect streak in six Australian Open finals with a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over Andy Murray.

In 2020, the United States declared a public health emergency over the new coronavirus, and President Donald Trump signed an order to temporarily bar entry to foreign nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens, who had traveled in China within the preceding 14 days. The Senate narrowly rejected Democratic demands to summon witnesses for President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.

Ten years ago: Chuck Hagel emerged from his grueling confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee with solid Democratic support for his nomination to be President Barack Obama’s next defense secretary. A gas explosion caused three floors of the headquarters of Mexico’s national oil company Pemex to collapse, killing 37 people. Caleb Moore, 25, an innovative freestyle snowmobile rider who’d been hurt in a crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died at a hospital in Grand Junction.

Five years ago: Republican congressman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who became known for leading a House panel’s investigation into the 2012attacks against Americans in Benghazi, Libya, announced that he would be retiring from Congress after his term expired. Much of the world was treated to a rare triple lunar treat - a total lunar eclipse combined with a particularly close full moon that was also the second full moon of the month.

One year ago: U.S. health regulators gave full approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. North Korea confirmed it had test-launched an intermediaterange ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam, the North’s most significant weapon launch in years. The New York Times said it had purchased the online word game Wordle for a price in the “low seven figures.” Rafael Nadal won a men’s record 21st Grand Slam singles title with a comeback five-set victory over second-ranked Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final.

Today’s birthdays: Composer Philip Glass is 86. Former Interior Secretary James Watt is 85. Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, the former queen regent, is 85. Actor Stuart Margolin is 83. Former U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-MO., is 82. Blues singer-musician Charlie Musselwhite is 79. Actor Glynn Turman is 76. Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan is 76. Actor Jonathan Banks is 76. Singer-musician Harry Wayne Casey (KC and the Sunshine Band) is 71. Rock singer Johnny Rotten is 66. Actor Kelly Lynch is 64. Actor Anthony Lapaglia is 64. Singer-musician Lloyd Cole is 62. Rock musician Al Jaworski (Jesus Jones) is 57. Actor Minnie Driver is 53. Actor Portia de Rossi is 50. Actor-comedian Bobby Moynihan is 46. Actor Kerry Washington is 46. Bluegrass singer-musician Becky Buller is 44. Singer Justin Timberlake is 42. Actor Tyler Ritter is 38. Country singer Tyler Hubbard (Florida Georgia Line) is 36. Folk-rock singermusician Marcus Mumford (Mumford and Sons) is 36. Actor Joel Courtney is 27.

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 1, the 32nd day of 2023. There are 333days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

In Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members: commander Rick Husband; pilot William Mccool; payload commander Michael Anderson; mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark; and payload specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space. On this date:

In 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time in New York. (However, since only three of the six justices were present, the court recessed until the next day.) In 1862, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a poem by Julia Ward Howe, was published in the Atlantic Monthly.

In 1865, abolitionist John S. Rock became the first Black lawyer admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1943, during World War II, one of America’s most highly decorated military units, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of Japanese-americans, was authorized.

In 1959, men in Switzerland rejected giving women the right to vote by a more than 2-1referendum margin. (Swiss women gained the right to vote in 1971.)

In 1960, four Black college students began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they’d been refused service.

In 1979, Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (hoh-may’-nee) received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

In 1991, 34people were killed when an arriving USAIR jetliner crashed atop a commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

In 1994, Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to racketeering for his part in the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in exchange for a 24-month sentence (he ended up serving six months) and a $100,000 fine.

In 2011, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he would not run for a new term in September elections but rejected protesters’ demands he step down immediately and leave the country, after a dramatic day in which a quartermillion Egyptians staged their biggest protest to date calling on him to go.

In 2016, the World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the explosive spread of the Zika virus, which was linked to birth defects in the Americas, calling it an “extraordinary event” that posed a public health threat to other parts of the world.

In 2020, as China’s death toll from the new coronavirus rose to 259, Beijing criticized Washington’s order barring entry to most foreigners who had visited China in the past two weeks. A World Health Organization official said governments needed to prepare for “domestic outbreak control.” Ten years ago: Hillary Rodham Clinton formally resigned as America’s 67th secretary of state, capping a four-year tenure that saw her shatter records for the number of countries visited. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 14,009.79, above the 14,000mark for the first time in more than five years. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch died at age 88.

Five years ago: Republican State Rep. Don Shooter was expelled from the Arizona House because of a lengthy pattern of sexual misconduct, making him the first state lawmaker in the U.S. to be booted out since the #Metoo movement emerged. Sheriff’s officials in Los Angeles said new witnesses had emerged in the 1981 drowning death of actress Natalie Wood, prompting investigators to name her former husband, Robert Wagner, a “person of interest” in what they considered a “suspicious death.” (Detectives later said the evidence hadn’t reached the threshold for a murder investigation and that they had no plans to file criminal charges.)

One year ago: Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia’s top security demands but signaled he was willing to engage in more diplomacy to ease tensions in Ukraine. (Russia would invade Ukraine on Feb. 24.) Quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL after winning seven Super Bowls and an unprecedented 22-year career. (Six weeks later he would reverse course and announce he would return for a 23rd season). ABC News announced that Whoopi Goldberg would be suspended for two weeks as co-host of “The View” over remarks a day earlier about Jews and the Holocaust that the network called “wrong and hurtful.”

Today’s birthdays: Today’s birthdays: Actor Garrett Morris is 86. Bluegrass singer Del Mccoury is 84. TV personality-singer Joy Philbin is 82. Political commentator Fred Barnes is 80. Rock musician Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 73. Blues singer-musician Sonny Landreth is 72. Actor-writer-producer Bill Mumy (Moo’-mee) is

69. Rock singer Exene Cervenka is 67. Actor Linus Roache is

59. Princess Stephanie of Monaco is 58. Actor Sherilyn Fenn is 58. Comedian-actor Pauly Shore is 55. Actor Brian Krause is 54. Jazz musician Joshua Redman is 54. Rock musician Patrick Wilson (Weezer) is 54. Actor Michael C. Hall is 52. Rock musician Ron Welty is 52. Rapper Big Boi (Outkast) is 48. Roots rocker Jason Isbell is 44. Country singer Julie Roberts is 44. Rock singer-musician Andrew Vanwyngarden is 40 TV personality Lauren Conrad is 37. Actor-singer Heather Morris is 36. Actor and mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey is

36. Rock singer Harry Styles (One Direction) is 29.