January 20

1265 – The first Parliament of England summoned other than by royal command, meets in Westminster Hall

1327 – Edward II of England is deposed by Edward III, his eldest son

1616 – The French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrives to winter in a Huron Indian village after being injured in a battle with Iroquois in New France

1732 – Patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee, is born

1760 – King of Spain, Charles III, is born

1777 – Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson and his “raw men” militia from New Jersey, along with 50 Pennsylvania riflemen under the command of Captain Robert Durkee, attack 500 British soldiers foraging for food in Millstone, New Jersey

1783 – Britain signs a peace agreement with Spain and France

1801 – John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court

1820 – Education advocate, Anne Clough is born

1837 – English architect, John Soane dies

1841 – During the First Opium War, China cedes Hong Kong to the British

1863 – Union General Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac begins an offensive against General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Heavy rains drench the roads, making fighting nearly impossible on the Union side and leading the operation to be known as the Mud March. The campaign was so disastrous; Burnside would be removed as commander on January 25

1893 – First black aviator, Bessy Colman, is born

1896 – Comedian and actor, George Burns is born

1900 – English author, John Ruskin dies

1908 – The Sullivan Ordinance bans women from smoking in public facilities

1909 – General Motors buys Oakland Motor Car Corporation

1910 – British author and naturalist Joy Adamson, is born

1918 – British forces suffer casualties and the loss of two ships when clashing with German forces in the Aegean Sea

1920 – Italian director, Federico Fellini is born

1930 – Second man to walk on the moon, Dr. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, is born

1930 – Charles Lindbergh arrives in New York, setting a cross-country flying record of 14.75 hours

1934 – Fujifilm is founded

1935 – Belgium arrests a group of Nazi agitators

1936 – King George V of the UK dies

1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in as president

1941 – Hitler meets with Mussolini and offers aid in Albania and Greece

1942 – Nazi officials meet in Berlin to discuss the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”

1944 – Allied forces in Italy begin unsuccessful operations to cross the Rapido River to command Cassino

1945 – Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated for an unprecedented fourth term

1945 – The Allies sign a truce with the Hungarians

1946 – France’s Charles DeGaulle resigns

1946 – American director, David Lynch is born

1949 – President Harry Truman calls for a “bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped nations,” in his inaugural address

1952 – The British occupy Ismailia, Egypt

1954 – Over 22,000 anti-Communist prisoners are turned over to UN forces in Korea

1956 – American comedian, actor and TV host, Bill Maher is born

1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35^th President of the US, with Robert Frost reciting his poem “The Gift Outright.”

1964 – The Beatles release their first album in the US, ‘Meet the Beatles’

1969 – Richard Nixon is inaugurated as President of the US

1969 – The killing of a student activist sets the stage for the Bangladesh Liberation War, eventually establishing Bangladesh as a sovereign nation

1971 – English singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer Gary Barlow, is born

1972 – Over 10,000 South Vietnamese troops begin a seek and destroy sweep 45 miles northwest of Saigon, as a new Communist offensive is expected

1973 – Jerry Lee Lewis performs at the Grand Ole Opry

1974 – Pro football player Rae Carruth who was convicted of hiring someone to murder Cherica Adams, his pregnant girlfriend, is born

1977 – President Jimmy Carter is sworn in

1980 – 222 people are killed when bleachers at a bullring in Sincelejo, Colombia collapse

1980 – President Jimmy Carter proposes that the 1980 Summer Olympics be moved from the planned host city of Moscow if the Soviets failed to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within a month

1981 – Ronald Reagan is sworn in as president, and at the same time, 52 American hostages are released from their captors in Tehran, Iran, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis

1987 – British negotiator Terry Waite disappears while attempting to negotiate freedom for Western hostages in Lebanon. It was later discovered he was held captive by Shiite Muslims and was not released for over four years

1993 – Actress Audrey Hepburn dies

1996 – Yasser Arafat is elected President of the Palestinian National Council, becoming the first democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people in history

2009 – Barack Obama is sworn in as President, becoming the first black President of the US

2012 – Singer Etta James dies