Today in History, January 29, 1936: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb in Hall of Fame’s first class

Today is Jan. 29. On this date:

1820

King George III died at Windsor Castle at age 81; he was succeeded by his son, who became King George IV.

1843

The 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.

1845

Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.

1861

Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.

1863

The Bear River Massacre took place as the U.S. Army attacked Shoshone in present-day Idaho. 

1919

The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.

1936

The first inductees of baseball’s Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, New York.

1958

Actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married in Las Vegas.

1963

The first charter members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio (they were enshrined when the Hall opened in September 1963).

1963

Poet Robert Frost died in Boston at age 88.

1964

Stanley Kubrick’s nuclear war satire “Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” premiered in New York, Toronto and London.

1975

A bomb exploded inside the U.S. State Department in Washington, causing considerable damage but injuring no one; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility.

1979

President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.

1990

Former Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood went on trial in Anchorage, Alaska, on charges stemming from the 1989 oil spill. (Hazelwood was acquitted of the major charges, and convicted of a misdemeanor.)

1995

The San Francisco 49ers became the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles, beating the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX.

1998

A bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)

2002

In his first State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said terrorists were still threatening America – and he warned of “an axis of evil” consisting of North Korea, Iran and Iraq.