Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2013. There are 335 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Jan. 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.

On this date:

In 1649, England's King Charles I was beheaded.

In 1862, the ironclad USS Monitor was launched from the Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, N.Y., during the Civil War.

In 1882, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.

In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. (Godse and a co-conspirator were later executed.)

In 1962, two members of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit.

In 1963, French composer Francis Poulenc died in Paris at age 64.

In 1964, the United States launched Ranger 6, an unmanned spacecraft carrying television cameras that crash-landed on the moon, but failed to send back images.

In 1968, the Tet Offensive began during the Vietnam War as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals.

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 1973, the rock group KISS performed its first show at a club in Queens, N.Y.

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

In 1993, Los Angeles inaugurated its Metro Red Line, the city's first modern subway.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush put allies on notice that diplomacy would give way to a decision on war with Iraq in "weeks, not months." Wary world leaders and congressional critics urged patience and demanded proof of Iraq's transgressions. Richard Reid, the British citizen and al-Qaida follower who'd tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Boston.

Five years ago: John Edwards bowed out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the Republican presidential contest and endorsed front-runner and longtime friend John McCain. The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate for the second time in just over a week, reducing the federal funds rate by a half point to 3 percent.

One year ago: All European Union countries except Britain and the Czech Republic agreed to sign a new treaty designed to stop overspending in the eurozone and put an end to the bloc's crippling debt crisis. A reactor at a northern Illinois nuclear plant shut down after an electrical insulator failed (the Unit 2 reactor at the Byron Generating Station resumed operating a week later).

Today's Birthdays: Actress Dorothy Malone is 88. Producer-director Harold Prince is 85. Actor Gene Hackman is 83. Actress Tammy Grimes is 79. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 76. Chess grandmaster Boris Spassky is 76. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 76. Country singer Norma Jean is 75. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is 72. Rock singer Marty Balin is 71. Rhythm-and-blues musician William King (The Commodores) is 64. Singer Phil Collins is 62. Actor Charles S. Dutton is 62. World Golf Hall of Famer Curtis Strange is 58. Actress-comedian Brett Butler is 55. Singer Jody Watley is 54. Actor-filmmaker Dexter Scott King is 52. The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, is 51. Actor Norbert Leo Butz is 46. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 41. Actor Christian Bale is 39. Rock musician Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) is 39. Pop-country singer-songwriter Josh Kelley is 33. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 33. Actor Jake Thomas is 23.

Thought for Today: "The excellent becomes the permanent." -- Jane Addams, American social worker and Nobel Peace laureate (1860-1935).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.