January 21st

Today's Highlight in History:
On January 21st, 1950, former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury. Hiss, who always maintained his innocence, was sentenced to five years in prison; he served less than four.

On this date:
In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis the 16th, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four other Southerners resigned from the US Senate.

In 1915, the first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.

In 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 54.

In 1950, George Orwell, author of "Nineteen Eighty-Four," died in London.

In 1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS "Nautilus," was launched at Groton, Connecticut.

In 1976, the supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.

In 1977, President Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

In 1997, Speaker Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted for first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct.

In 1998, President Clinton angrily denied reports he'd had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and had tried to get her to lie about it.

Ten years ago: In the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, mutinous military cadets fired on troops patrolling the capital during a crackdown on a nationalist uprising.

Five years ago: President Clinton, addressing the Democratic National Committee, implored members to "bear down and go forward" despite the results of the 1994 elections.

One year ago: Former Senator Dale Bumpers told the Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton the president was guilty of a "terrible moral lapse" but not of conduct warranting or even permitting his removal from office. Raul Salinas de Gortari, the brother of a former Mexican president, was convicted of masterminding the murder of rival Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu and sentenced to 50 years.

"Few, save the poor, feel for the poor."

-- Letitia Landon, English poet (1802-1838).