This Week in US History

January 16

1920   Prohibition begins, outlawing the sale of liquor, as the Eighteenth Amendment goes into effect.

1991   The Persian Guld War begins as the United States and allied nations launch Operation Desert Storm to drive Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

January 17

1893   American sugar planters led by Sanford B. Dole overthrow Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani.

1994   A magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes Southern California, killing at least 61 people.

January 18

1782   Statesman and orator Daniel Webster is born in Salisbury, New Hampshire.

1919   The post-World War I peace conference begins in Paris, ultimately resulting in the Treaty of Versailles, which sets the terms for the end of the war.

January 19

1861   Georgia secedes from the Union.

1955   Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the first presidential news conference filmed for  TV.

January 20

1892  The first official basketball game takes place at a YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1949   Harry Truman's inauguration is the first to be televised.

January 21

1789   The first novel by an American writer published in America, The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.

1950   Former State Department official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury regarding allegations that he was a spy for the Soviet Union.

January 22

1939  The uranium atom is split for the first time using a cyclotron at Columbia University in New York City.

1973  The Supreme Court hands down a decision of Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion.