On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.
On Jan. 20 , 1920, Federico Fellini, the Italian film director, was born. Following his death on Oct. 31, 1993, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
1801 | John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States. |
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1841 | Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. |
1896 | Comedian George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City. |
1936 | Britain's King George V died. |
1942 | Nazi officials arrived at a "final solution" that called for exterminating Europe's Jews, during a conference at Lake Wannsee in Berlin. |
1953 | Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office as president of the United States; Richard M. Nixon was sworn in as vice president. |
1961 | John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States. |
1981 | Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. |
1981 | Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days. |
1986 | The United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. |
1987 | Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite disappeared in Beirut, Lebanon, while attempting to negotiate the release of Western hostages. |
1993 | Bill Clinton was sworn in as the 42nd president of the United States. |
2001 | George W. Bush took the oath of office as the 43rd president of the United States. |
2001 | Hundreds of thousands of protesting Filipinos forced President Joseph Estrada to step down; Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in as the new president. |
Historic Birthdays
44 |
Johannes Schein 1/20/1586 - 11/19/1630 German composer |
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46 |
Henry Cromwell 1/20/1628 - 3/23/1674 English, brief ruler of Ireland |
62 |
Richard Henry Lee 1/20/1732 - 6/19/1794 American statesman/orator |
72 |
Anne J. Clough 1/20/1820 - 2/27/1892 English educator/feminist |
77 |
Johannes Jenson 1/20/1873 - 11/25/1950 Danish novelist/essayist |
91 |
Ruth St. Denis 1/20/1877 - 7/21/1968 American dancer & choreographer |
82 |
Walter Piston 1/20/1894 - 11/12/1976 American composer/teacher |
74 |
Harold Gray 1/20/1894 - 5/9/1968 American "Orphan Annie" cartoonist |
69 |
Joy Adamson 1/20/1910 - 1/3/1980 Australian conservationist/writer |