Today is Jan. 17. On this date:
1773
Captain James Cook completed the first recorded trip across the Antarctic Circle.
1893
Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown as businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Lili’uokalani to abdicate.
1920
Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.)
Our history:Cincinnati's breweries hit hard by Prohibition
1929
The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor made his debut in the “Thimble Theatre” comic strip.
1945
Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II.
1945
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
1950
The Great Brink’s Robbery took place as seven masked men held up a Brink’s garage in Boston, stealing $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and money orders. (Although the entire gang was caught, only part of the loot was recovered.)
1961
President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address in which he warned against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
1977
Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.
1984
Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Universal v. Sony case that allows VCRs to record television programs for home use.
1997
A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country’s history.
2007
A year after disclosure of a domestic spying program that President George W. Bush maintained was within his authority to operate, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced the administration had shifted its position and would seek the approval of an independent panel of federal judges.
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