Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Jan. 16. The United States went "dry" on this date in 1920. Prohibition of alcoholic beverages took effect under the 18th amendment to the Constitution. Prohibition lasted for 13 years. Alcohol was available the entire time. Only it was illegal alcohol. Its quality was poor, and sometimes it was poisonous. And since it was sold by mobsters, Prohibition wound up enriching crooks. The Prohibition amendment was repealed in 1933. Advertisement The Persian Gulf War began on this date in 1991. President Bush drew the largest TV audience in history with an address to the nation on the commencement of hostilities against Iraq -- including the bombing of Baghdad, which was reported live on CNN. It was on this date in 1998 that investigators for special counsel Kenneth Starr questioned former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. They wanted to know about rumors that she'd had an affair with President Clinton. The next day, Clinton would deny in a sworn deposition that he'd had sex with Lewinsky. Later, after admitting to an "inappropriate" relationship with the young woman, the president would say that --- strictly speaking --- the two had not had sex. Advertisement Leon Trotsky was dismissed as chairman of the Russian Revolution Military Council on this date in 1925. Trotsky would eventually be murdered. On this date in 1942, screen star Carole Lombard, her mother and 20 other people were killed in a plane crash near Las Vegas. Lombard was the wife of actor Clark Gable. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
