Also on this date
Secretary of State John Marshall was nominated by President John Adams to be chief justice of the United States.
In 1801,
In 1841,
the island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.)
In 1936,
Britain’s King George V died after his physician injected the mortally ill monarch with morphine and cocaine to hasten his death; the king was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne 11 months later to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
In 1937,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.
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 1986,
the United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In 2020,
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.
France threatened to withdraw early from Afghanistan after an Afghan soldier killed four French troops and wounded 15 in a setback for the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts to build a national army and allow foreign troops to go home.
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, pledging to empower America’s “forgotten men and women.” Protesters registered their rage against the new president in a confrontation with police blocks from the inaugural parade.
Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, declaring that “democracy has prevailed.” Kamala Harris — the first female vice president, and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the position — also was sworn in. Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida by the time Biden was sworn in; he was the first president in modern history to boycott his successor’s inauguration.
Associated Press