January 22nd, 1973. In one of its most controversial rulings, the US Supreme Court legalizes abortion in a landmark case of Roe versus Wade.

 

Also that same year. “For in your time, we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society, and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.” Former President Lyndon Johnson dies in Texas at age 64. Johnson’s legacy includes Civil Rights laws, domestic programs such as medicare and the expansion of the Vietnam War that divided the nation. 

 

 

 

1998. Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty to being the Unabomber. In return he gets life in prison without parole. Kaczynski’s brother David “ we are finally at a place where we can begin a process of healing.”

 

 

 

1901. Britain’s Queen Victoria whose more than fifty-year rule saw the British Empire reach its peak dies at age 82.

 

 

 

1953. Arthur Miller’s drama, The Crucible opens on Broadway, set during the Salem Witch Trials, the play takes in McCarthyism in the “Red Scare” of the 1950s.

 

 

 

And 1968. “Sock it to me, Sock it to me …The Love Boat. It’s Sock-it-to-me time.”And you bet your sweet bippy, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, the TV Comedy Classic from the counter-culture era premieres on NBC.

 

 

 

Today in history, January 22nd. Sandy Kozel. The Associated Press.