January 20

### Up to 1900

- 250 – Emperor Decius begins widespread persecution of Christians in Rome
- 1265 – The English Parliament conducts its first meeting.
- 1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes King of Poland.
- 1356 – Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.
- 1523 – Christian III is forced to abdicate the thrones of Denmark and Norway.
- 1576 – The city of León in Mexico is founded.
- 1649 – King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland goes on trial for treason and 'high crimes'.
- 1778 – James Cook lands on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i.
- 1783 – Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain.
- 1788 – The third and main part of the First Fleet of convicts from Great Britain arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides to move the convict colony slightly further along the coast to Port Jackson, present–day Sydney, Australia.
- 1801 – John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1839 – Battle of Yungay: Chile defeats Peru and Bolivia.
- 1840 – Jules Dumont D'Urville's expedition to Antarctica discovers Adelie Land.
- 1841 – Hong Kong comes under British control.
- 1855 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson patents the roller coaster.
- 1877 – Last day of the Constantinople Conference, which results in an agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
- 1885 – L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
- 1887 – Off the Brazilian coast, British immigrant ship _Kapunda_ collides with the barque _Ada Melmore_, causing it to sink within 5 minutes, killing 297 of the 313 people on board, including all women and children.
- 1887 – The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as a naval base.
- 1892 – The first basketball game under rules invented by James Naismith takes place in Springfield, Massachusetts.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1905 – The Egyptian Bridge in Saint Petersburg, Russia, collapses.
- 1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
- 1921 – Turkey's first constitution is adopted.
- 1929 – _In Old Arizona_, the first full–length talking movie filmed outdoors, is released.
- 1934 – The photography and electronics company Fujimovie is founded in Tokyo.
- 1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom dies. His son, Edward VIII, succeeds him.
- 1937 – At his second inauguration, Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first US President to be inaugurated on January 20.
- 1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to start a third term in office. He starts his fourth term on this date in 1945 and dies shortly after.
- 1941 – World War II: A German police officer is murdered in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
- 1942 – Senior Nazi officials meet at the Wannsee Conference, to plan the Holocaust.
- 1945 – World War II: Hungary agrees to an Armistice with the Allies.
- 1945 – World War II: Germany begins with the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia.
- 1949 – Harry S. Truman proposes Point Four program to help the world's less developed areas.
- 1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President of the United States; he is the first President from the Republican Party since Herbert Hoover left office in 1933.
- 1960 – Hendrik Verwoerd announces a vote on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
- 1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States.
- 1969 – Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States.
- 1972 – Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program.
- 1977 – Jimmy Carter becomes President of the United States.
- 1980 – Jimmy Carter announces that the US will not participate at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
- 1981 – The Iran hostage crisis ends within minutes of Ronald Reagan becoming US president.
- 1985 – President Ronald Reagan is inaugurated for the second time. He becomes the first president in over a decade to serve two terms.
- 1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is marked as a federal holiday for the first time.
- 1987 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
- 1989 – George H. W. Bush becomes President of the United States succeeding President Ronald Reagan.
- 1990 – Soviet forces kill civilians in Baku, Azerbaijan.
- 1991 – Sudan's government imposes Islamic law around the country, worsening the civil war between the mainly Muslim North and mainly Christian South, which would become South Sudan in 2011.
- 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 people.
- 1993 – Bill Clinton becomes President of the United States, as the first Democratic President since Jimmy Carter left office in 1981.
- 1995 – Jean-Claude Juncker becomes Prime Minister of Luxembourg. He is Europe's longest–serving Prime Minister at the time he leaves office on December 4, 2013.
- 1996 – Yasser Arafat is elected Palestinian President.
- 1999 – The China News Service announces new government limits on internet use.

### From 2001

- 2001 – In a coup in the Philippines, Joseph Estrada is replaced as President by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
- 2001 – George W. Bush becomes President of the United States.
- 2006 – People report seeing a bottlenose whale in the Thames in London. It dies late the next day after failed attempts to lead it back to the sea.
- 2007 – A three–man team, only on skis and kites completes a 1759–kilometer (1093–mile) journey to the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility, becoming the first people to do this without mechanical help.
- 2009 – Barack Obama becomes the first African American President of the United States.
- 2013 – Barack Obama starts his second term as President of the United States, becoming the third US president in a row to serve two terms in office.
- 2014 – The European _Rosetta_ comet chaser spacecraft is reawakened after a 31–month hibernation on its way to attempt landing on a comet.
- 2016 – A terrorist attack is carried out on the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, killing 21 people.
- 2016 – Scientists announce that they are "90% certain" of the existence of a 9th planet in the solar system beyond the Kuiper belt.
- 2017 – Donald Trump becomes President of the United States.
- 2021 – Joe Biden becomes President of the United States.

### Up to 1900

- 225 – Gordian III, Roman Emperor (d. 244)
- 1292 – Elisabeth of Bohemia (d. 1330)
- 1435 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese Shogun (d. 1490)
- 1488 – Sebastian Münster, German humanist and teacher (d. 1552)
- 1554 – King Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
- 1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer (d. 1624)
- 1703 – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish composer and violinist (d. 1741)
- 1716 – King Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
- 1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American statesman (d. 1794)
- 1761 – Giovanni Domenico Perotti, Italian composer (d. 1825)
- 1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist (d. 1836)
- 1783 – Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
- 1798 – Anson Jones, President of Texas (d. 1858)
- 1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
- 1832 – William Larrabee, 13th Governor of Iowa (d. 1912)
- 1834 – George D. Robinson, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
- 1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
- 1867 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
- 1873 – Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Josef Hofmann, Polish inventor, composer and pianist (d. 1957)
- 1878 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (d. 1968)
- 1880 – Walter W. Bacon, American politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
- 1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American aviation executive (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian–born violinist (d. 1967)
- 1894 – Walter Piston, American composer (d. 1976)
- 1894 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist (d. 1968)
- 1895 – Gabor Szego, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1985)
- 1896 – George Burns, American actor and comedian (d. 1996)
- 1896 – Isabel Withers, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1898 – U Razak, Burmese politician (d. 1947)
- 1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese television pioneer (d. 1990)
- 1899 – Clarice Cliff, English ceramic artist (d. 1972)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1902 – Leon Ames, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Paul Wessely, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
- 1910 – Joy Adamson, Austrian–Czech conservationist (d. 1980)
- 1911 – Alfredo Foni, Italian footballer (d. 1985)
- 1913 – Cleon Skousen, American writer and political theorist (d. 2006)
- 1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian movie director (d. 1993)
- 1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian writer and ski jumper (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Ray Anthony, American jazz musician and actor
- 1922 – Don Mankiewicz, German–American screenwriter and inventor (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Slim Whitman, American singer (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, politician and activist
- 1926 – Vitaly Vorotnikov, Soviet politician (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer
- 1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American Apollo 11 astronaut
- 1931 – David Lee, American physicist
- 1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese songwriter and pianist
- 1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1933 – Don Thompson, British athlete (d. 2006)
- 1934 – Tom Baker, British actor
- 1936 – Frances Shand Kydd (d. 2004), mother of Diana, Princess of Wales
- 1939 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan–British mathematician and astronomer
- 1940 – Mande Sidibe, Prime Minister of Mali (d. 2009)
- 1941 – Pierre Lalonde, Canadian singer and television presenter
- 1943 – Armando Guebuza, President of Mozambique
- 1945 – Eric Stewart, British musician and songwriter
- 1945 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, British sportscaster and cricket journalist (d. 2013)
- 1946 – David Lynch, American movie director
- 1946 – Vladimir Merta, Czech singer-songwriter, journalist and writer
- 1947 – Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist
- 1948 – Mel Pritchard, English musician
- 1948 – Natan Sharansky, Russian–Israeli physicist and politician
- 1948 – Nigel Williams, English novelist
- 1949 – Göran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden
- 1950 – Mahamane Ousmane, former President of Niger
- 1950 – Liza Goddard, British actress

### 1951 – 1975

- 1952 – Ian Hill, British musician
- 1952 – Paul Stanley, American musician
- 1952 – Ute Hommola, German athlete
- 1953 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and convicted sexual abuser
- 1954 – Rudy la Scala, Venezuelan singer-songwriter
- 1955 – McKeeva Bush, Cayman Islands politician
- 1956 – Bill Maher, American writer, comedian and political activist
- 1956 – Maria Larsson, Swedish politician
- 1957 – Andy Sheppard, English jazz saxophonist
- 1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor
- 1959 – R. A. Salvatore, American science fiction writer
- 1960 – Apa Sherpa, Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer
- 1963 – David Baszucki, Founder of Roblox
- 1963 – James Denton, American actor
- 1964 – Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1965 – Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer
- 1965 – Greg Kriesel, American musician
- 1965 – Heather Small, British singer
- 1965 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
- 1966 – Rainn Wilson, American actor
- 1967 – Stacey Dash, American actress
- 1969 – Nicky Wire, British musician
- 1970 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
- 1971 – Gary Barlow, British singer (Take That)
- 1971 – Derrick Green, American singer
- 1971 – Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1972 – Nikki Haley, American politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
- 1973 – Stephen Crabb, British politician
- 1973 – Mathilde, Queen Consort of Belgium
- 1973 – Josh Weston, American gay porn actor (d. 2012)
- 1974 – Alvin Harrison, American athlete

### From 1976

- 1976 – Kirsty Gallacher, British television presenter
- 1977 – Sid Wilson, American musician (Slipknot)
- 1978 – Sonja Kesselschlaeger, German athlete
- 1979 – Will Young, British singer
- 1979 – Rob Bourdon, American musician (Linkin Park)
- 1980 – Philippe Cousteau, Jr., French–American oceanographer
- 1981 – Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
- 1981 – Freddy Guzman, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 – Joe Swash, English actor
- 1983 – Mari Yaguchi, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1984 – Olivia Hallinan, English actress
- 1984 – Lil Scrappy, American rapper
- 1984 – Federico Peluso, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Johan Erikson, Swedish ski jumper
- 1985 – Marina Inoue, Japanese voice actress
- 1987 – Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2011)
- 1987 – Evan Peters, American actor
- 1991 – Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player
- 1995 – Joey Badass, American rapper
- 1995 – Calum Chambers, English footballer
- 1999 – Shannon Tavarez, American actress (d. 2010)

### Up to 1900

- 250 – Pope Fabian
- 842 – Theophilos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 813)
- 1156 – Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
- 1191 – Fredrick VI, Duke of Swabia (b. 1167)
- 1410 – King Martin of Aragon (b. 1356)
- 1479 – King John II of Aragon (b. 1397)
- 1568 – Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator
- 1612 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
- 1639 – Mustafa I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1591)
- 1666 – Anna of Austria (b. 1601)
- 1745 – Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1697)
- 1770 – Charles Yorke, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
- 1779 – David Garrick, English actor (b. 1717)
- 1819 – King Charles IV of Spain (b. 1748)
- 1837 – John Soane, English architect (b. 1753)
- 1841 – Minh Mang, Vietnamese Emperor (b. 1791)
- 1848 – King Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
- 1852 – Onomatsu Midorinusuke, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1794)
- 1859 – Bettina von Arnim, German writer (b. 1785)
- 1891 – King David Kalakaua of Hawaii (b. 1836)
- 1892 – John Couch Adams, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1819)
- 1900 – John Ruskin, English art critic (b. 1819)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1901 – Zenobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (b. 1826)
- 1913 – Jose Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (b. 1852)
- 1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
- 1940 – Omar Bundy, American general (b. 1861)
- 1957 – James Brendan Connolly, American athlete (b. 1865)
- 1971 – Minanogawa Tozo, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1903)
- 1971 – Broncho Bill Anderson, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1880)
- 1973 – Amilcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissau politician (b. 1924)
- 1979 – Gustav Winckler, Danish singer (b. 1925)
- 1983 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
- 1984 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 1990 – Hayedeh, Iranian singer (b. 1942)
- 1990 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
- 1993 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian–born actress (b. 1929)
- 1994 – Matt Busby, Scottish football player and manager (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Gerry Mulligan, American musician (b. 1927)
- 1997 – Curt Flood, American baseball player (b. 1938)
- 1998 – Bobo Brazil, American professional wrestler (b. 1923)

### From 2001

- 2003 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (b. 1903)
- 2005 – Per Borten, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Miriam Rothschild, English conservationist (b. 1908)
- 2008 – Louis de Cazenave, French World War I veteran and supercentenarian (b. 1897)
- 2009 – Stephanos II Ghattas, Patriarch of the Egyptian Coptic Church (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Sexy Cora, German pornographic actress (b. 1987)
- 2012 – Jiri Raska, Czech ski jumper (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Etta James, American singer (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Vern Benson, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Anatol Hrytskievich, Belarussian historian (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Hitoshi Saito, Japanese gymnast (b. 1961)
- 2015 – Edgar Froese, German musician (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Ricardo dos Santos, Brazilian surfer (b. 1990)
- 2015 – James Walker, Australian television writer (b. 1973)
- 2016 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French writer (b. 1920)
- 2016 – George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, Austrian–British publisher, philanthropist and newspaper columnist (b. 1919)
- 2016 – Ronald Greenwald, American rabbi and activist (b. 1934)
- 2016 – David G. Hartwell, American editor, publisher and critic (b. 1941)

## Observances

- Armed Forces Day (Mali)
- Martyrs' Day (Azerbaijan)
- Inauguration Day (United States) every four years, last in 2013 and next in 2017. Public inauguration of the US president is on January 21 if the 20th is a Sunday (like in 2013).

## US Presidents inaugurated on January 20

- 1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1949 – Harry S. Truman
- 1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1957 – Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1961 – John F. Kennedy
- 1965 – Lyndon B. Johnson
- 1969 – Richard Nixon
- 1973 – Richard Nixon
- 1977 – Jimmy Carter
- 1981 – Ronald Reagan
- 1985 – Ronald Reagan
- 1989 – George H. W. Bush
- 1993 – Bill Clinton
- 1997 – Bill Clinton
- 2001 – George W. Bush
- 2005 – George W. Bush
- 2009 – Barack Obama
- 2013 – Barack Obama
- 2017 – Donald Trump
- 2021 – Joe Biden