Today in History

Today in History

Today is Friday, Jan. 29, the 29th day of 2016. There are 337 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.

On this date:

In 1820, Britain's King George III died at Windsor Castle.

In 1843, the 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.

In 1861, Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.

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

In 1956, editor-essayist H.L. Mencken, the "Sage of Baltimore," died at age 75.

In 1958, actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in Las Vegas.

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. The Winter Olympic Games opened in Innsbruck, Austria. Actor Alan Ladd, 50, died in Palm Springs, California.

In 1975, a bomb exploded inside the U.S. State Department in Washington, causing considerable damage, but injuring no one; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility.

In 1990, former Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood went on trial in Anchorage, Alaska, on charges stemming from the 1989 oil spill. (Hazelwood was acquitted of the major charges, and convicted of a misdemeanor.)

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 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)

In 2005, Jetliners from China landed in rival Taiwan for the first time in 56 years. Serena Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open final. Ashley McElhiney, the first female coach of a men's pro basketball team, was fired after an on-court dispute with Sally Anthony, co-owner of the Nashville Rhythm of the ABA. Irina Slutskaya won a sixth title at the European Figure Skating Championships.

Ten years ago: ABC "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq. Roger Federer won his seventh Grand Slam title, overcoming an early challenge from unseeded Marcos Baghdatis to win the Australian Open 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. Avant garde video artist Nam June Paik died in Miami at age 74.

Five years ago: With protests raging, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, as his first-ever vice president as chaos engulfed Cairo. Kim Clijsters finally won her first Australian Open title and the fourth major of her career, after she beat Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Alissa Czisny won her second title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in Greensboro, North Carolina. Avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt, 94, died in Princeton, New Jersey.

One year ago: A sundown deadline passed with no word on the fate of a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian fighter pilot held by the Islamic State group. President Barack Obama called for a surge in government spending and asked Congress to throw out the sweeping spending cuts both parties agreed to four years earlier when deficits were spiraling out of control. Obama proposed $74 billion in added spending to be split about evenly between domestic and defense programs. Nine Democrats joined 53 Republicans in passing a Senate bill to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline in defiance of a presidential veto threat. Rod McKuen, whose music, verse and spoken-word recordings made him one of the best-selling poets in history, died at 81.

Today's Birthdays: Writer-composer-lyricist Leslie Bricusse is 85. Feminist author Germaine Greer is 77. Actress Katharine Ross is 76. Feminist author Robin Morgan is 75. Actor Tom Selleck is 71. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bettye LaVette is 70. Actor Marc Singer is 68. Actress Ann Jillian is 66. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 63. Rhythm-and-blues/funk singer Charlie Wilson is 63. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is 62. Actor Terry Kinney is 62. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 60. Actress Diane Delano is 59. Actress Judy Norton Taylor (TV: "The Waltons") is 58. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato is 57. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis is 56. Rock musician David Baynton-Power (James) is 55. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 55. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 54. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 52. Actor-director Edward Burns is 48. Actress Heather Graham is 46. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is 46. Actor Sharif Atkins is 41. Actress Sara Gilbert is 41. Actress Kelly Packard ("Baywatch") is 41. Country singer Eric Paslay is 41. Actor Justin Hartley is 39. Actor Sam Jaeger is 39. Actor Andrew Keegan is 37. Actor Jason James Richter is 36. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 35. Pop-rock singer Adam Lambert (TV: "American Idol") is 34.

Thought for Today: "Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted." -- Hesketh Pearson, British biographer (1887-1964).