By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2018. There are 335 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 30, 1968, the Tet Offensive began during the Vietnam War as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese towns and cities; although the Communists were beaten back, the offensive was seen as a major setback for the U.S. and its allies.

On this date:

In 1649, England’s King Charles I was executed for high treason.

In 1798, during a meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives in Philadelphia, Matthew Lyon of Vermont spat tobacco juice in the face of Roger Griswold of Connecticut (two weeks later, Griswold physically attacked Lyon on the House floor).

In 1882, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in Hyde Park, New York.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The first episode of the “Lone Ranger” radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.

In 1945, during World War II, a Soviet submarine torpedoed the German ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea with the loss of more than 9,000 lives, most of them war refugees; roughly 1,000 people survived. Thought for