The Week in History Jan. 15-21

Jan. 15

1929: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.

1947: The mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who came to be known as the ''Black Dahlia,'' were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot; her slaying remains unsolved.

1967: The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, retroactively known as Super Bowl I.

1987: Entertainer Ray Bolger, perhaps best known for playing the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM musical ''The Wizard of Oz,'' died in Los Angeles at age 83.

Jan. 16

1547: Ivan IV of Russia (popularly known as ''Ivan the Terrible'') was crowned czar.

1919: Pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski became the first premier of the newly created Republic of Poland.

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 It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.

1935: Fugitive gangster Fred Barker and his mother, Kate ''Ma'' Barker, were killed in a shootout with the FBI at Lake Weir, Fla.

1958: Central High School's newly organized Letterman's Club, the “Golden A Club,” chose a blue V-neck sweater as their official letter sweater. The sweaters were adorned with a gold “A” trimmed in blue.

2014: The state Economic Development Finance Authority halted its $8 million commitment made to Northern Beef Packers.

Jan. 17

1929: The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor made his debut in the ''Thimble Theatre'' comic strip.

1955: A new curbside mailbox featuring a snout that extends to the street was being used near the post office in Aberdeen. It was the first such “snout” mailbox to be installed in South Dakota.

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.''

1962: Ten former winners of rigged TV quiz shows, including Charles Van Doren, pleaded guilty in New York to perjury, admitting they'd lied under oath when they denied being given answers in advance. All received suspended sentences.

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.

1986: Onida's Tom Byrum shot a 76 in the second day of play at the Bob Hope Classic. Craig Stadler, tournament leader, shot a 65.

Jan. 18

1943: A wartime ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread in the U.S. — aimed at reducing bakeries' demand for metal replacement parts — went into effect.

1949: Charles Ponzi, engineer of one of the most spectacular swindles in history, died destitute at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at age 66.

1952: Jerome ''Curly'' Howard of Three Stooges fame died in San Gabriel, Calif., at age 48.

1967: Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the ''Boston Strangler,'' was convicted in Cambridge, Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo was killed in prison in 1973.)

1980: The 1980 South Dakota Legislature considered a bill which would have raised the legal age to drink low-point beer to 19 from 18.

1986: Sertoma Club members proposed a $300,000 Storybook Land Castle to the Aberdeen City Commission. Plans called for construction to begin that spring.

Jan. 19

1937: Millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

1953: CBS-TV aired the widely watched episode of "I Love Lucy" in which Lucy Ricardo, played by Lucille Ball, gave birth to Little Ricky. (By coincidence, Ball gave birth the same day to her son, Desi Arnaz Jr.)

1955: The National Horsemen Trail Riders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rebuilding historic Fort Sisseton, planned to ask the South Dakota Legislature for $10,000 for improvements to the hospital building at the fort.

1986: A plan to require waterfowl hunters to purchase a $2 habitat restoration stamp prior to the fall hunting season was introduced in the South Dakota Legislature.

2014: Peyton Manning threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns to lead Denver to a 26-16 victory over New England and send the AFC champion Broncos to their first trip to the Super Bowl in 15 years.

2018: Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman joined dozens of other women and girls in confronting her former doctor, Larry Nassar, at his sentencing hearing for multiple sexual assaults; she warned him that the testimony of the "powerful army" of survivors would haunt him in prison.

Jan. 20

1942: Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their ''final solution'' that called for exterminating Jews.

1955: The South Dakota racing commission set a 60-day season for the dog track in Rapid City. Horse racing in Aberdeen was scheduled for June 17-19.

1970: Specials at Tonner's Piggly Wiggly: Wheaties 12 oz. box for 29 cents; Wilderness Cherry Pie Mix for 39 cents; and Campbell's Tomato Soup, nine cans for 99 cents.

2001: George Walker Bush became America's 43rd president after one of the most turbulent elections in U.S. history.

2009: Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States.

2017: Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

Jan. 21

1937: Count Basie and his band recorded ''One O'Clock Jump'' for Decca Records (on this date in 1942, they re-recorded the song for Okeh Records).

1958: Charles Starkweather, 19, killed three relatives of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at her family's home in Lincoln, Neb. (Starkweather and Fugate went on a road trip which resulted in seven more slayings.)

1963: The Aberdeen Jayceettes planned three events to raise money to furnish the children's area of the new Alexander Mitchell Library, which was scheduled to open later in the spring.

1975: Gov. Richard Kneip proposed a $146.2 million operating budget to the South Dakota Legislature, including $625,000 for a new state airplane.

1998: Pope John Paul II began a historic pilgrimage to Cuba.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Weekly history listing for Jan. 15-21