January 20

Events

• 1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland.
• 1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting.
• 1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland
• 1356 - Edward Balliol resigns as King of Scotland
• 1513 - Christian II becomes King of Denmark and Norway
• 1667 - Poland cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and eastern Ukraine to Russia
• 1801 - John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
• 1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica
• 1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands
• 1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
• 1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• 1891 - James Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state.
• 1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
• 1921 - Republic of Turkey is declared
• 1929 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
• 1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom
• 1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.
• 1941 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a third term as President of the United States, becoming the only President to be elected to three terms.
• 1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide the "final solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation.
• 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
• 1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a fourth term as President of the United States, becoming the only President to be elected to four terms.
• 1949 - Harry S. Truman is re-inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.
• 1952 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States.
• 1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1957 - Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.
• 1958 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice
• 1961 - John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States.
• 1964 - Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released
• 1965 - Lyndon B. Johnson is re-inaugurated as the 36th President of the United States.
• 1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula
• 1969 - Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States.
• 1973 - Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.
• 1975 - Michael Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency
• 1977 - Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States
• 1980 - Super Bowl XIV sees the coronation of the Pittsburgh Steelers as the team of the 1970s as they defeat the Los Angeles Rams, 31-19.
• 1981 - Ronald W. Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States and becomes the oldest to take office (69 years and 349 days). Minutes later, Iran releases 52 American hostages that were captive for 444 days.
• 1985 - Super Bowl XIX becomes the most watched game in history when an estimated 115.9 million people see the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins, 38-16. This game also was the first time television commercials ran for a million dollars a minute.
• 1985 - Ronald W. Reagan is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.
• 1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 1986 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• 1989 - George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States.
• 1993 - Bill Clinton is inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States.
• 1994 - In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female student to attend The Citadel but soon drops out.
• 1996 - Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
• 1997 - Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States.
• 1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet bars.
• 2001 - George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States.
• 2002 - Michael Jordan, now of the Washington Wizards, plays his first game in Chicago since rejoining the NBA. The Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls, 77-69.
• 2002 - Inauguration of Churches Uniting in Christ

Births

• 225 - Gordian III, Roman emperor, (d. 244)
• 1812 - Thomas Meik, engineer, (d. 1896)
• 1856 - Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch, women's rights activist, (d. 1940)
• 1873 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish author, Nobel prize winner (d. 1950)
• 1878 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer, (d. 1968)
• 1894 - Walter Piston, composer
• 1896 - George Burns, actor, comedian, (d. 1996)
• 1902 - Nazim Hikmet, lyricist and dramatist, (d. 1963)
• 1907 - Paula Wessley, actress, (d. 2000)
• 1915 - C. W. Ceram, author, (d. 1972)
• 1915 - Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan
• 1918 - Esquivel, musician, (d. 2002)
• 1920 - Federico Fellini, film director, (d. 1993)
• 1920 - DeForest Kelly, actor, (d. 1999)
• 1920 - John O'Connor, Cardinal of New York City, (d. 2000)
• 1921 - Bernt Engelmann, author, (d. 1994)
• 1925 - Ernesto Cardenal, theologian, author and politician
• 1926 - Patricia Neal, actress
• 1926 - David Tudor, pianist and composer, (d. 1996)
• 1930 - Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
• 1940 - Carol Heiss, Olympic figure skating gold medalist
• 1946 - David Lynch, film director
• 1949 - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1952 - Paul Stanley, musician, of the rock band KISS
• 1956 - Bill Maher, actor, comedian, political analyst
• 1958 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
• 1969 - Skeet Ulrich, actor

Deaths

• 1156 - Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
• 1779 - David Garrick, actor, (b. 1717)
• 1848 - Christian VIII of Denmark, (b. 1786)
• 1850 - Adam Oehlenschlager, Danish poet, (b. 1779)
• 1904 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor of the Periodic table, (b. 1834)
• 1936 - King George V of the United Kingdom, (b. 1865)
• 1944 - James McKeen Cattell, first professor of Psychology in U.S., (b. 1860)
• 1962 - Robinson Jeffers, poet
• 1965 - Alan Freed, disk jockey, (b. 1922)
• 1971 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, director, writer, producer
• 1984 - Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming gold medalist, actor, (b. 1904)
• 1990 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress, (b. 1907)
• 1993 - Audrey Hepburn, actress, (b. 1929)
• 1996 - Gerry Mulligan, musician, (b. 1927)
• 1997 - Curt Flood, baseball star
• 2004 - Guinn Smith, American athlete

Holidays and observances

• Presidential Inauguration Day in the United States

January 19 - January 21 - December 20 - February 20 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By