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What happened in history on this day: January 20?
On January 20 in ...
- 1778 - First American military court martial trial begins, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1783 - Hostilities cease in US Revolutionary War.
- 1788 - Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah, Georgia.
- 1801 - John Marshall is appointed US Chief Justice.
- 1815 - President James Madison vetoes a bill that would create a second Bank of the United States.
- 1862 - Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer killed after mistakenly riding into US lines.
- 1868 - Florida constitutional convention meets in Tallahassee.
- 1870 - Ship City of Boston vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard.
- 1872 - California Stock Exchange Board organizes.
- 1887 - US Senate approves the naval base lease of Pearl Harbor.
- 1929 - First feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, In Old Arizona.
- 1930 - First radio broadcast of The Lone Ranger (WXYZ-Detroit).
- 1937 - -45 degrees F (-43 degrees C), Boca, California (state record low).
- 1937 - First Presidential Inauguration day on January 20th, (held every fourth years thereafter).
- 1943 - Temperature in Lead, South Dakota is 52 degrees F, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood, South Dakota records -16 degrees F.
- 1945 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt sworn-in for an unprecedented fourth term as US President.
- 1947 - Brigadier General Edwin K Wright becomes deputy director of US Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1949 - US President Harry Truman announces his four-point program.
- 1953 - First US telecast transmitted to Canada from Buffalo, New York, USA.
- 1953 - First live coast-to-coast inauguration address (US President Dwight Eisenhower).
- 1954 - -70 degrees F (-57 degrees C), Rogers Pass, Montana (state 48 record).
- 1954 - The General Motors' Motorama show goes on display at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Chevrolet shows the Corvette Nomad prototype, with Corvette front and station wagon back. Chevrolet also shows a cherry red Corvair prototype, a two-seat fastback coupe with a Corvette front end. The name is a combination of "Corvette" and "Bel Air". Oldsmobile shows the F-88 two-seater convertible with fiberglass body. Pontiac shows the Bonneville Special, a two-seater with fiberglass body, straight 8-cylinder engine, mostly clear roof, similar headlights to Corvette.
- 1961 - Inauguration ceremony for John Kennedy as President of the United States.
- 1965 - American Jet Propulsion Laboratory proposes modified Apollo flight to fly around Mars and return.
- 1969 - Joseph W. Barr ends term as US Treasury Secretary.
- 1969 - Richard M Nixon inaugurated as President of the United States.
- 1969 - University of Arizona reports first optical identification of pulsar (in Crab Nebula).
- 1977 - George H.W. Bush ends term as 11th director of US Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1981 - Admiral Stansfield Turner, US Navy (Retired), ends term as 12th director of US Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1981 - Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter, becoming the 40th President of the United States.
- 1981 - Minutes after Ronald Reagan takes office as US President, the United States frees almost US$8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, ending the Iran hostage crisis.
- 1982 - Seven miners killed in an explosion in Craynor, Kentucky.
- 1985 - Cold front strikes US, at least 40 die (-27 degrees F (-33 degrees C) in Chicago, Illinois).
- 1985 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is privately sworn in for a second term in office (publicly sworn in January 21).
- 1986 - The first US federal Martin Luther King Day holiday, honoring Martin Luther King Junior, is observed.
- 1988 - Arizona committee opens hearing on impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham.
- 1989 - George P. Shultz's term as US Secretary of State ends.
- 1989 - George H.W. Bush succeeds Ronald Reagan as the 41st President of the United States of America.
- 1991 - Iraq parades captured Allied airmen on TV.
- 1991 - US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles.
- 1993 - Admiral Studeman, serves as acting director of US Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1993 - Catalina Vásquez Villalpando's term as Treasurer of the US ends.
- 1993 - William Jefferson (Blythe) Clinton III is inaugurated as 42nd President of the USA.
- 1993 - Market value of Microsoft reaches US$26.78 billion, above IBM at US$26.76 billion for the first time. Microsoft becomes the highest valued computer industry company, 14th among all public companies.
- 1997 - Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States.
- 1998 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts The Mama and The Papas, The Eagles.
- 2001 - George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States.
- 2005 - George W. Bush is inaugurated in Washington, D.C. for his second term as the 43rd President of the United States.
- 2009 - Italian carmaker Fiat and American carmaker Chrysler agree to a global strategic alliance. Fiat will get a 35 percent stake in Chrysler, which will get access to Fiat's fuel-efficient vehicle technologies.
- 2009 - Barack Hussein Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.
- 2010 - Republican Scott Brown wins the vacated Senate seat in Massachusetts, reducing the Democrats' majority to 59 seats to the Republicans' 41.
- 2017 - Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Trump, a Republican New York City businessman, becomes the first person that is not a political office holder or a military general to be elected President of the United States.
- 2018 - (to January 22) The United States government enters a federal government shutdown as a result of a dispute over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
- 2021 - Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.
Births on January 20
- 1889 - Birth of Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana, USA; blues 12-string guitarist (Rock Island Line).
- 1892 - Birth of Roscoe Ates in Grange, Mississippi, USA; actor (Deputy Roscoe - Marshal of Gunsight Pass).
- 1894 - Birth of Walter Hamor Piston in Rockland, Maine, USA; composer (Incredible Flutis).
- 1896 - Birth of George Burns AKA Nathan Birnbaum, in New York City, New York; actor/comedian (Oh God).
- 1896 - Birth of Rolfe Sedan in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Mailman - George Burns Show).
- 1903 - Birth of Leon Ames in Portland, Indiana, USA; actor (Mr Ed, Father of the Bride).
- 1919 - Birth of Alex Nicol in Ossining, New York, USA; actor (Man From Laramie, Air Cadet).
- 1920 - Birth of DeForest Kelley in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; actor (Dr Leonard McCoy - Star Trek).
- 1922 - Birth of Ray Anthony in Pennsylvania, USA; orchestra leader (Ray Anthony Show, Peter Gunn Theme).
- 1925 - Birth of Edwin Gordon in New York City, New York, USA; Voice of America correspondent.
- 1926 - Birth of Michael Higgins in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (1918, Wanda, Black Stallion).
- 1926 - Birth of Patricia Neal in Packard, Kentucky, USA; actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses).
- 1929 - Birth of Arte Johnson in Chicago, Illinois, USA; comedian (Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie).
- 1930 - Birth of Edwin Eugene Aldrin Junior AKA Buzz Aldrin in Montclair, New Jersey, USA; US Air Force/astronaut (Gemini 12, Apollo 11, 2nd to set foot on Moon).
- 1937 - Birth of Dorothy Provine in Deadwood, South Dakota, USA; actress (Good Neighbor Sam, Darn Cat).
- 1940 - Birth of Carol Heiss Jenkins in New York City, New York, USA; figure skater (Olympics-gold/silver-1956, 1960).
- 1941 - Birth of Ron Townson in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA; singer (The 5th Dimension - "Up Up and Away", "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "One Less Bell to Answer", "I Didn't Get to Sleep at All") (dies 2000).
- 1946 - Birth of David Lynch in Missoula, Montana, USA; actor/director (Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks).
- 1948 - Birth of Jerry L Ross in Indiana, USA; Lieutenant-Colonel US Air Force/astronaut (STS 61B, 27, 37, 55, 74, 88).
- 1956 - Birth of John Phillips Naber in Evanston, Illinois, USA; American 100m/200m backstroke swimmer (Olympics-4 gold/silver-1976).
- 1957 - Birth of Leonard C Clements in Cherry Point, North Carolina, USA; PGA golfer (1994 Bob Hope-second).
- 1958 - Birth of Lorenzo Lamas in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Lance - Falcon Crest, California Fever).
- 1960 - Birth of Will Wright, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; creator of software games SimCity, The Sims.
- 1963 - Birth of Scott Fisher in San Jose, California, USA; Australian basketball forward (Olympics-1996).
- 1965 - Birth of Brad Brink; US baseball pitcher (San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies).
- 1967 - Birth of Stacey Dash in Bronx, New York, USA; actress (Dionne - Clueless).
- 1969 - Birth of Andre Romal Cason in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA; 100m runner.
- 1969 - Birth of Melissa Rivers in New York City, New York, USA; TV hostess (MTV, CBS Morning News).
- 1969 - Birth of Tia Marie Zorne in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Miss America-Nevada (1990).
- 1970 - Birth of Rob Gaudreau in Lincoln, Rhode Island, USA; NHL center (Ottawa Senators).
- 1970 - Birth of Thomas "Tom" Murray in Buffalo, New York, USA; rower (Olympics-1996).
- 1971 - Birth of Karin Smith; Miss Minnesota USA (1996).
- 1974 - Birth of Calvin Harrison in Orlando, Florida, USA; 200m/400m runner.
- 1981 - Birth of Jason Richardson; American basketball player.
Deaths on January 20
- 1862 - Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer killed after mistakenly riding into US lines.
- 1965 - Death of Alan Freed AKA Moon Doggy at age 42 in a hospital in Palm Springs, California, USA; radio disc jockey (WJW Radio in Cleveland, WABC in New York), coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll".
- 1991 - Bill Riordon, US tennis promoter (Jimmy Connors), dies.
- 1993 - Joseph Anthony [Deuster], US director/actor (Rainmaker), dies at age 80.
- 1995 - John Halas, Hungarian/US cartoonist (Animal Farm), dies at age 81.
- 1997 - Death of Curt Flood, American baseball player (centerfielder, Saint Louis Cardinals), at age 59 of throat cancer (born 1938).
- 2022 - Death of Meat Loaf AKA Marvin Lee Aday at age 74 in Los Angeles, California, USA; singer ("Paradise by the Dashboard Light", "I'd do Anythying for Love", Grammy award).
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