page_title: 2009 in the United States
section_title: January
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 in the United States / Events / January
context_page_description: Events from the year 2009 in the United States.
context_section_description: January – The worst month of the Great Recession sees nearly 800,000 jobs lost; the unemployment rate rises to 7.8%, the highest since June 1992.
  January 1 – The BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant, an unarmed man, results in protests and several hours of violence in Oakland, California.
  January 6 –
  The 111th Congress convenes with Democrats increasing their majority to 256 seats in the House, and to 59 seats in the Senate.
  Marianas Trench, Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is established.
  January 9 – A Labor Department report shows that the U.S. economy lost nearly 2 million jobs in the last four months of 2008.
  January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549 loses power in both engines shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, forcing the pilot to ditch the aircraft in the Hudson River. All 155 passengers and crew are rescued with no casualties, and the pilot is hailed as a hero.
  January 16 – Circuit City, the number two electronics retailer in the U.S., announces the closing of all 567 of its U.S. stores and the termination of 34,000 jobs.
  January 20 – Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.
  January 22 – President Obama signs executive orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within one year and to prohibit torture in terrorism interrogations.
  January 26 – Timothy Geithner is sworn in as the new Secretary of Treasury, succeeding Henry Paulson.
  January 29 – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich becomes the first state governor to be impeached and removed from office in a quarter century.
caption: January 16: Electronics retailing company Circuit City closed all of its U.S. stores in the wake of a bankruptcy issue, after nearly 60 years in business.