History for January 20

History for January 20 - On-This-Day.com:
George Burns 1896, Aristotle Onassis 1906, DeForest Kelley 1920


Federico Fellini 1920, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin 1930, Edward "Fireball" Roberts 1931


1801 - John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States.


1841 - The island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.


1885 - The roller coaster was patented by L.A. Thompson.


1887 - The U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.


1942 - Nazi officials held the Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Europe's Jews.


1981 - Iran released 52 Americans that had been held hostage for 444 days. The hostages were flown to Algeria and then to a U.S. base in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The release occurred minutes after the U.S. presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.


1986 - The U.S. observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.


1986 - Britain and France announced their plans to build the Channel Tunnel.