January 20

January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
345 days remaining (346 in leap years).

Events

   * 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 AdŽlie 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.
   * 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 - Supreme Court legalizes abortion in the decision Roe v. Wade
   * 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 becomes the 39th President of the United States
   * 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).
   * 1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages that were captive for 444
     days minutes after Ronald Reagan becomes president.
   * 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

   * 1856 - Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch, women's rights activist (+ 1940)
   * 1878 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (+ 1968)
   * 1895 - George Burns, actor, comedian (+ 1996)
   * 1902 - Nazim Hikmet, lyricist and dramatist (+ 1963)
   * 1907 - Paula Wessley, actress (+ 2000)
   * 1915 - C. W. Ceram, author (+ 1972)
   * 1918 - Esquivel, musician
   * 1920 - Federico Fellini, film director (+ 1993)
   * 1920 - DeForest Kelly, actor (+ 1999)
   * 1920 - John O'Connor, Cardinal of New York City (+ 2000)
   * 1921 - Bernt Engelmann, author (+ 1994)
   * 1925 - Ernesto Cardenal, theologian, author and politician
   * 1926 - Patricia Neal, actress
   * 1926 - David Tudor, pianist and composer
   * 1930 - Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
   * 1940 - Carol Heiss, Olympic figure skating gold medalist
   * 1946 - David Lynch, film director
   * 1949 - Gšran 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

   * 1779 - David Garrick, actor
   * 1848 - Christian VIII of Denmark
   * 1850 - Adam Oehlenschlager, Danish poet
   * 1904 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor of the
     Periodic table
   * 1936 - King George V of the United Kingdom
   * 1944 - James McKeen Cattell, first professor of Psychology in U.S.
   * 1962 - Robinson Jeffers, poet
   * 1965 - Alan Freed, disk jockey
   * 1971 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, director, writer,
     producer
   * 1984 - Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming gold medalist, actor
   * 1993 - Audrey Hepburn, actress
   * 1990 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress
   * 1996 - Gerry Mulligan, musician
   * 1997 - Curt Flood, baseball star

Holidays and observances

   * Presidential Inauguration Day in the United States

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