This Day in History

On Jan. 17, 1920, prohibition of alcohol began in the United States as the Volstead Act went into effect in support of the 18th Amendment.

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In 1950, the Great Brink's Robbery took place as seven masked men held up the Brink's Building in Boston, stealing $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and money orders.

In 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."

In 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was killed by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

In 1990, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Kinks, The Platters, Simon and Garfunkel and The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1994, the Northridge earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area; the magnitude 6.7 quake was responsible for 57 deaths, 9,000 injuries and an estimated $25 billion in damages.

In 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 struck the city of Kobe (koh-bay), Japan.

In 2022, as Russian troops stationed near Ukraine's border launched drills, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov angrily rejected U.S. allegations that Moscow was preparing a pretext to invade Ukraine.

Today's birthdays: Rock musician Mick Taylor is 76. Politician-lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is 71. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle is 70. Singer Paul Young is 69. Actor-comedian Steve Harvey is 68. Singer Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) is 66. Actor-comedian Jim Carrey is 63. Author-journalist Sebastian Junger is 63. Former first lady Michelle Obama is 61. Musician Kid Rock is 54. Rapper Lil Jon is 53. Actor-singer Zooey Deschanel is 45. Dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy (TV: "Dancing with the Stars") is 45. Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade is 43. DJ-musician Calvin Harris is 41. Boxer Oleksandr Usyk is 38. Actor Kelly Marie Tran is 36. Boxer-actor Jake Paul is 28.