This day in history — Jan. 23

Today’s highlight in history 

On Jan. 23, 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission; one sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. (Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher and his crew were released the following December after enduring 11 months of brutal captivity.)

On this date 

In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.

In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. 

In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called “Lame Duck Amendment,” was ratified as Missouri approved it.

In 1964, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it. 

In 1977, the original TV miniseries “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC. 

In 1978, rock musician Terry Kath, a key member of the group Chicago, accidentally shot himself to death following a party in Woodland Hills, Calif.; he was 31. 

In 1998, a judge in Fairfax, Va., sentenced Aimal Khan Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two men and wounded three other people. (Kasi was executed in November 2002.)

Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from the Gaza Strip after militants blew up a barrier dividing the border town of Rafah.

Five years ago: Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered fiery rejoinders to Republican critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the deadly attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

One year ago: President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, using one of his first actions in office to reject a proposed accord that was eagerly sought by American allies in Asia.

Associated Press

QUOTE UNQUOTE

"The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot." 

Salvador Dali,

Surrealist artist who died on this date in 1989, at age 84