Today is Wednesday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2021. There are 345 days left in the year.
Highlight in History:
On Jan. 20, 1986, the United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
On this date:
In 1265, England’s first representative Parliament met for the first time.
In 1801, Secretary of State John Marshall was nominated by President John Adams to be chief justice of the United States. (Marshall would be sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801.)
In 1887, the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.
In 1942, Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their “final solution” that called for exterminating Europe’s Jews.
In 1961, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States.
In 1964, Capitol Records released the album “Meet the Beatles!”
In 1981, Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
In 1994, Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend classes at The Citadel in South Carolina. (Faulkner joined the cadet corps in Aug. 1995 under court order but soon dropped out, citing isolation and stress from the legal battle.)
In 2007, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., launched her first campaign for the White House, saying in a videotaped message on her website: “I’m in, and I’m in to win.”
In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation’s 44th, as well as first African-American, president.
In 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, pledging emphatically to empower America’s “forgotten men and women.” Protesters registered their rage against the new president in a chaotic confrontation with police just blocks from the inaugural parade.
Ten years ago: In a luncheon speech to American business executives in Washington, Chinese President Hu Jintao denied his country was a military threat despite its arms buildup and pressed the U.S. for closer cooperation between the global powers. Federal authorities orchestrated one of the biggest Mafia takedowns in FBI history, charging 127 suspected mobsters and associates in the Northeast with murders, extortion and other crimes spanning decades.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama hailed the revival of the nation’s auto industry during a visit to Detroit while acknowledging the water crisis in nearby Flint, Michigan.
One year ago: Chinese government experts confirmed human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus, saying two people caught the virus from family members and that some health workers had tested positive.
Today’s Birthdays: Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 91. Olympic gold medal figure skater Carol Heiss is 81. Singer Eric Stewart is 76. Movie director David Lynch is 75. Country-rock musician George Grantham (Poco) is 74. Israeli activist Natan Sharansky is 73. Actor Daniel Benzali is 71. Rock musician Paul Stanley (KISS) is 69. Rock musician Ian Hill (Judas Priest) is 69. Comedian Bill Maher (MAR) is 65. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 63. Actor James Denton is 58.
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