Way back when: Today in history
BY GENE CURTIS
Sunday, January 20, 2013
1/20/13 at 2:40 AM
1981 - Hostages freed
"They're Free at Last!" Tulsa World readers were told by a big headline and a yellow ribbon draped over the World masthead. They referred to the 52 Americans who had been held hostage in Iran for 444 days after young Muslim revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Iran yielded the captives as President Jimmy Carter yielded the country's reins to Ronald Reagan.
1986 - Martin Luther King Jr. honored
Parades and ceremonies marked the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in many parts of the country but not in Tulsa. Thousands of Tulsa Public Schools students skipped classes in protest. Superintendent Larry Zenke said 9,858 students missed classes. Tulsa was the only one of the country's 50 largest cities that did not close schools and city offices in honor of King, state Sen. Bernard McIntyre said.
1994 - Woman admitted to Citadel
Shannon Faulkner, 19, became the first woman to attend classes at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., one of two state-supported male-only military colleges in the country, after Chief Justice William Rehnquist cleared the way for her to take courses with the college's cadets. Faulkner had sued the Citadel in federal court after her application was denied on the basis of gender. She finally was allowed to join the cadet corps in August 1995, again under court order, but resigned because of "mental stress."
2001 - Philippines president quits
Philippines President Joseph Estrada resigned after an estimated 75,000 protesters marched close to the presidential palace demanding his ouster. Estrada's political career had been ruined by a corruption scandal and an impeachment trial. Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in to replace Estrada, a former film star. There was no word on whether he would face prosecution for allegations that he took gambling kickbacks and skimmed money from provincial tobacco taxes.
Associated Images:
Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., appears at a news conference in Atlanta a few days before the first MLK holiday. AP file
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