Today's Highlight in History:
On Jan. 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation's 44th, as well as first African-American, president. In an 18-minute inaugural address, he urged the more than 1 million people who braved the sub-freezing weather to hear him in person, to join him to "begin again the work of remaking America."On this date:
In 1265, Britain's House of Commons, which became a model for parliamentary bodies, met for the first time.
In 1783, U.S. and British representatives signed a preliminary "Cessation of Hostilities," which ended the fighting in the Revolutionary War.
In 1801, Secretary of State John Marshall was nominated by President John Adams to be chief justice of the United States. (He was sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801.)
In 1841, the island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.)
In 1887, the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
In 1892, the first officially recognized basketball game was played at the YMCA gym in Springfield, Mass.
In 1936, Britain's King George V died (his demise having been hastened by his physician) [What? — Ed.]; he was succeeded by Edward VIII.
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 Jews.In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term.
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman was sworn in for a second term of office. In his inaugural address, Truman branded communism a "false philosophy" as he outlined his program for U.S. world leadership.
In 1961, John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States.
Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you ...."In 1969, Richard M. Nixon was sworn in as the 37th president of the United States; Spiro Agnew took the oath of vice president.
In 1981, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency 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., & Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel.
In 1987, Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite disappeared in Beirut, Lebanon, while attempting to negotiate the release of Western hostages.
In 1989, George H.W. Bush was sworn in as the 41st president of the United States; Dan Quayle took the oath of vice president.
In 1993, Bill Clinton was sworn in as the 42nd president of the United States.
In 1995, a strike-shortened National Hockey League season opened with teams playing a 48-game schedule instead of the usual 84.
In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton was inaugurated for his second term in office. Also in 1997, millionaire Steve Fossett landed in northern India after a record-setting bid to become the first person to circle the globe in a hot air balloon.
In 1999, for a second day, President Bill Clinton's legal team argued its case before the Senate, saying that House-passed articles of impeachment were "flawed and unfair."
In 2000, Census 2000 officially got under way as Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt knocked on the door of a small wood-frame house in Unalakleet, Alaska, to begin the nationwide head count. The Clinton administration issued visas to the grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez, enabling them to visit the United States to make their case for the six-year-old's return to Cuba.
In 2001, George W. Bush took the oath of office as the 43rd president of the United States. 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. Also in 2001, just hours before leaving office, U.S. President Bill Clinton issued 176 pardons -- a number of them controversial.
In 2003, Britain said it was sending 26,000 troops to the Persian Gulf for possible deployment to Iraq but France said it wouldn't support a U.N. resolution for military action.
In 2004, President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, asserted that America was strengthening its economy and successfully combatting terrorism. Dick Gephardt quit the Democratic presidential race. Martha Stewart's stock-trading trial formally began in New York. (Stewart ended up serving a five-month prison sentence for lying about a stock sale.) The Salvation Army announced a donation likely to exceed $1.5 billion from the estate of Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder.
In 2005, President George W. Bush was inaugurated for a second term; Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, ill with thyroid cancer, delivered the oath of office. Anti-Bush demonstrators jeered the president's motorcade during the inaugural parade.
In 2006, Lawrence Franklin, a former U.S. State Department analyst and Iran expert, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for passing classified information to Israel and two pro-Israeli lobbyists.
In 2007, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., became the first former first lady to seek the U.S. presidency when she entered the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
In 2008, Israeli Cabinet ministers called for the death of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who claimed to have the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon. The Los Angeles Times announced its top editor, James O'Shea, had been fired after he rejected a management order to cut $4 million from the newsroom budget, 14 months after his predecessor was also ousted in a budget dispute. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was sworn in for a second term. The New England Patriots defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game, pulling out a 21-12 victory that sent them back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven seasons. The New York Giants won a 23-20 overtime victory over Green Bay in the NFC championship.
In 2009, Russian natural gas began flowing into Ukraine after a nearly two-week cutoff that had left large parts of Europe cold and dark.
Today's Birthdays January 20: Country singer Slim Whitman is 86. Actress Patricia Neal is 84. Comedian Arte Johnson is 81. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 80. Actress Dorothy Provine is 73.
Those Born On This Date Include: Harold Gray, creator of the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" ( 1894); Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (1906); actor DeForest Kelley (1920).
On This Date In The Entertainment Business:
In 1896, comedian George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City.
In 1920, movie director Federico Fellini was born in Rimini, Italy.
In 1965, disc jockey Alan Freed died in Palm Spings, California, of kidney and liver disease. He was 42. He's credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll." [Or stealing it from colored people. — Ed.]
In 1973, Jerry Lee Lewis made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Opry officials allowed him to perform as long as he didn't use profanities and played only country music. By the end of the set, Lewis broke both agreements.
In 1982, singer Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a live bat during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa. He claimed he thought it was a toy thrown to him by an audience member.
In 1984, Johnny Weissmuller, an Olympic champion who went on to movie stardom as "Tarzan," died in Acapulco, Mexico, at age 79. Celebrity Death Haikus.
In 1988, Beach Boy Mike Love hurled insults at Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger while the Beach Boys were being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [Best thing a Beach Boy has ever done? Just might be. — Ed.]
In 1990, actress Barbara Stanwyck, known for her role on "The Big Valley," died of heart failure. She was 82. Also, comedians Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold got married. They have since split up.
In 1993, actress Audrey Hepburn died of cancer in Switzerland at the age of 63.
In 1998, singer Alice Nutter of Chumbawamba said on "Politically Incorrect" that the band advocated fans stealing copies of their album. Virgin Megastores reacted by pulling their albums from the shelves and putting them behind the counters.
Last Yr.'s Thought for Today: "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." — Alexis de Tocqueville, French author (1805-1859).
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