Today's Highlight in History:
On Jan. 19, 1807, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Va.
On this date:
In 1736, James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.
In 1809, author Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston.
In 1853, Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premiered in Rome.
In 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union.
In 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
In 1944, the federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.
In 1955, a presidential news conference was filmed for television for the first time, with the permission of President Dwight Eisenhower.
In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court; however, the nomination was defeated because of controversy over Carswell's past racial views.
In 1977, in one of his last acts of office, President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino, an American who had made wartime broadcasts for Japan.
Ten years ago: During a ceremony in Atlanta commemorating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Vice President Gore announced that the Clinton administration would propose increasing spending on civil rights by $86 million. "Rockabilly" pioneer Carl Perkins died in Jackson, Tenn., at age 65.
