PROHIBITION

January 16, 1964

LBJ approves "OPLAN 34A".  This initiates a program to gather intelligence & conduct sabotage with the intent of destabilizing the government of North Vietnam.  

The operatives will include South Vietnamese forces supported by US military personnel.  The operation will lead to a confrontation in the Gulf of Tonkin between NV patrol boats & the USS Maddox.  

January 16, 1920

The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution goes into effect one year after its ratification prohibiting the "manufacture, sale or transport of intoxicating liquors".  


The amendment will be in force until 1933.

January 16, 1861

A proposal by John C. Crittenden of Kentucky fails to pass the US Senate.

The "Crittenden Compromise" calls for a series of constitutional amendments to lure 4 seceded Southern states back into the Union. 

The vote is 25 Ney to 23 Yea.  All 25 Ney votes were by Republican senators, who like President-elect Abraham Lincoln, refuse to compromise on the issue of slavery in the territories.

 

January 16, 1942

Hollywood actress Carole Lombard, wife of actor Clark Gable, dies in a plane crash en route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.  

Lombard, recruited to sell "war bonds", is returning to her home along with her mother who also dies in the crash.

January 16, 1945

Adolf Hitler moves into his bunker 55 feet under his headquarters in Berlin.  He will spend 105 days there until his death.  


The bunker includes 18 small rooms & has its' own water supply & electricity.  Hitler will commit suicide along with his wife, Eva Braun, in the bunker on April 30, 1945.

January 16, 1991

US forces attack Iraq as the Persian Gulf War begins.  The UN deadline for Iraqi forces to withdraw from Kuwait has expired.  


President George H.W. Bush orders American fighters, launched from Saudi Arabia & British aircraft carriers, to conduct bombing missions over Baghdad.