| On this date in: |
| 1547 |
Ivan IV (popularly known as “Ivan the Terrible”) was crowned czar of Russia. |
| 1920 |
Prohibition began as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect. |
| 1942 |
Actress Carole Lombard, 33, died in a plane crash near Las Vegas. |
| 1944 |
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force in London. |
| 1964 |
The musical “Hello, Dolly!” starring Carol Channing opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances. |
| 1969 |
Two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel. |
| 1973 |
The final first-run episode of the long-running western “Bonanza” aired on NBC. |
| 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. |
| 1992 |
The government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that had killed at least 75,000 people. |
| 2003 |
The space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven blasted off from Cape Canaveral. (The shuttle broke up during its return descent on Feb. 1, killing everyone on board.) |
| 2004 |
Pop star Michael Jackson pleaded innocent to child molestation charges in Santa Maria, Calif. (Charges were later re-filed and Jackson was acquitted.) |
| 2006 |
Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was sworn in as Liberia’s president. |
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| AP Photo/Charles Dharapak |
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| 2007 |
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., launched his successful bid for the White House. |
