January 16th

Today's Highlight in History:
On January 16th, 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution took effect. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.)

On this date:
In 1547, Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.

In 1883, the US Civil Service Commission was established.

In 1919, Nebraska, Wyoming and Missouri became the 36th, 37th and 38th states to ratify Prohibition, which went into effect a year later.

In 1942, actress Carole Lombard, her mother and about twenty other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nevada, while returning from a war-bond promotion tour.

In 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied Invasion Force in London.

In 1964, the musical "Hello, Dolly!" opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.

In 1967, Alan S. Boyd was sworn in as the first secretary of transportation.

In 1989, three days of rioting erupted in Miami when a police officer fatally shot a black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of a passenger.

In 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

In 1992, officials of the government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war.

Ten years ago: The Soviet Union sent more than eleven-thousand reinforcements to the Caucasus to halt a civil war between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

Five years ago: In Union, South Carolina, a prosecutor announced he would seek the death penalty for Susan Smith, the woman accused of drowning her two young sons, three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex. (Smith was later convicted of murder, but was sentenced to life in prison.)

One year ago: Closing three days of opening arguments, House prosecutors demanded President Clinton's removal from office, telling a hushed Senate that otherwise the presidency itself may be "deeply and perhaps permanently damaged." Forty-five ethnic Albanians were found slain near the southern Kosovo village of Racak.

"I am a believer in punctuality, though it makes me very lonely."

-- E.V. Lucas, English writer and publisher (1868-1938).