Today in History

Today is Friday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2015. There are 335 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Jan. 30, 1945, during World War II, more than 500 Allied captives held at the Japanese prison camp in Cabanatuan in the Philippines were liberated by U.S. Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrilla fighters. Adolf Hitler marked the 12th anniversary of his appointment as Germany's chancellor with his last public speech in which he called on Germans to keep resisting until victory.

On this date:

In 1615, Thomas Rolfe, the only child of John Rolfe and his wife, Rebecca (the former Pocahontas), was born in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony.

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

In 1815, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in agreeing to purchase the personal book collection of former President Thomas Jefferson to replace volumes lost when the British burned the U.S. Capitol and its congressional library during the War of 1812.

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

In 1911, James White, an intellectually disabled black 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 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.

In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse (neh-too-RAHM' gahd-SAY'), a Hindu extremist. (Godse and a co-conspirator were later executed.) Aviation pioneer Orville Wright, 76, died in Dayton, Ohio.

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

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

Ten years ago: Iraqis voted in their country's first free election in a half-century; President George W. Bush called the balloting a resounding success. The downing of a C-130 military transport plane north of Baghdad killed all 10 British servicemen on board; the militant group Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility. In Northern Ireland, Robert McCartney, 33, was fatally stabbed in a fight at a Belfast pub by members of the Irish Republican Army. Marat Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Australian Open.

Five years ago: China suspended military exchange visits with the United States in protest over $6.4 billion in planned U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. (Those exchanges were reinstated in Jan. 2011.) Thousands of demonstrators from across Japan marched in central Tokyo to protest the U.S. military presence on Okinawa. Serena Williams ended Justine Henin's (EH'-nenz) hopes of a Grand Slam title in her return from retirement with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory in the Australian Open final.

One year ago: An appeals court in Florence, Italy, reinstated the guilty verdict against U.S. student Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend for the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. (Knox was sentenced to 28 1/2 years in prison, raising the specter of a long legal battle over her extradition from the U.S. should the conviction be upheld.) Federal prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing. Animation producer Arthur Rankin Jr. ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer") died in Bermuda at age 89.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Dorothy Malone is 90. Producer-director Harold Prince is 87. Actor Gene Hackman is 85. Actress Tammy Grimes is 81. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 78. Chess grandmaster Boris Spassky is 78. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 78. Country singer Norma Jean is 77. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is 74. Rock singer Marty Balin is 73. Rhythm-and-blues musician William King (The Commodores) is 66. Singer Phil Collins is 64. Actor Charles S. Dutton is 64. World Golf Hall of Famer Curtis Strange is 60. Actress-comedian Brett Butler is 57. Singer Jody Watley is 56. Actor-filmmaker Dexter Scott King is 54. The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, is 53. Actor Norbert Leo Butz is 48. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 43. Actor Christian Bale is 41. Rock musician Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) is 41. Actress-singer Lena Hall is 35. Pop-country singer-songwriter Josh Kelley is 35. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 35. Actor Jake Thomas is 25. Actress Danielle Campbell (TV: "The Originals") is 20.

Thought for Today: "Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." -- Dorothy Thompson, American author, journalist and radio commentator (born 1893, died this date in 1961).

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