[ T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y ] • 1547, Ivan IV of Russia (popularly known as Ivan the Terrible) was crowned Czar • 1572, the Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England • 1581, the English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism • 1605, the first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid • 1707, the Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving way for the creation of Great Britain • 1883, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed • 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 (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.) • 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in London • 1945, Adolf Hitler, ymsh, moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Fuhrerbunker • 1957, three B-52s (accompanied at first by two spare aircraft) took off from Castle Air Force Base in California on the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, which lasted 45 hours and 19 minutes • 1969, the Metroliner train enters into service • 1979, the Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt • 1991, the United States of America declares war on Iraq, beginning the Persian Gulf War (U.S.Time) • 1999, closing three days of opening arguments, House prosecutors demanded President Bill Clintons removal from office, telling a hushed Senate that otherwise the presidency itself may be deeply and perhaps permanently damaged. • 2001, President Bill Clinton awards former US President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War • 2002, the UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban • 2003, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off under extremely tight security; on board was Israels first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. (The mission ended in tragedy when the shuttle broke up during its return descent, killing all seven crew members.) • 2004, pop star Michael Jackson pleaded innocent to child molestation charges during a court appearance in Santa Maria, Calif.; the judge scolded Jackson for being 21 minutes late. (Jackson was eventually acquitted.) ALSO: NASA announced that the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope would be allowed to degrade and eventually become useless • 2005, Adriana Iliescu becomes the oldest woman in the world since biblical times to give birth, at age 66 • 2007, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., launched his successful bid for the White House • 2008, Republican Bobby Jindal took over as the governor of Louisiana. He was the first Indian-American elected to that office in the United States. At 36, he also was the nations youngest governor. ALSO: A report said the United States roads, bridges, dams and sewer systems were in such major disrepair that fixing infrastructure could cost $1.6 trillion • 2009, U.S. officials said evidence indicated Iran was trying to skirt sanctions and acquire tungsten copper and specialized aluminum and titanium sheets that can be used in missile production • 2012, the new year brought Americans the highest January gas prices ever, a national average of $3.39 a gallon of unleaded gasoline, nearly 30 cents higher than a year earlier, the motorist group AAA announced. The peak was $4.114 in July 2008 • 2014, Major League Baseball announced a historic expansion of instant replay to review close calls --- starting in the 2014 season
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:48:49 +0000