Advertisement

On This Day: Hillary Clinton becomes 67th secretary of state

On Jan. 21, 2009, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won near-unanimous Senate confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. She took the oath of office later that day.

By UPI Staff
On January 21, 2009, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won near-unanimous Senate confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. She took the oath of office later that day. File Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh/UPI
1 of 6 | On January 21, 2009, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won near-unanimous Senate confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. She took the oath of office later that day. File Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1793, French King Louis XVI was executed in Paris, ending more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy.

Advertisement

In 1861, Mississippi Sen. Jefferson Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate 12 days before Mississippi seceded from the Union. He later became president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1915, the English steamer Durward, traveling from Leith to Rotterdam, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine near the mouth of the Meuse. The crew was rescued by a Dutch pilot boat and landed at the Hook.

In 1924, Vladimir Lenin, architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet Union, died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 54.

In 1949, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek headed for exile, resigned his position as president of Nationalist China to clear the way for negotiations with the Chinese Communists to end China's three-year civil war.

Advertisement

In 1954, in odd news, a Connecticut man obtained a divorce on grounds of desertion after concluding his wife wasn't coming back. She left 45 years before.

In 1954, the world's first atomic-powered submarine, the Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn.

In 1976, the supersonic Concorde airplane was put into service by Britain and France.

File Photo by John Full/UPI

In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardoned American Vietnam War-era draft evaders and ordered a case-by-case study of deserters.

In 1990, U.S. tennis star John McEnroe became the first player to be disqualified from the Australian Open after an outburst in which he broke his racquet, yelled at a linesman and erupted into a string of curses.

In 1996, an overloaded ferry, the Gurita, capsized during a storm off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, killing 340 people.

In 1997, the full U.S. House of Representatives voted 395-28 to reprimand Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., for violating House rules and misleading congressional investigators looking into his possible misuse of tax-exempt donations for political purposes.

Advertisement

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau said Hispanics had moved past African Americans as the largest minority group in the United States.

In 2009, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won near-unanimous Senate confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. She took the oath of office later that day.

In 2009, Toyota overtook General Motors in annual sales to become the largest automaker on the planet.

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a far-reaching and controversial 5-4 decision, ruled that the government cannot restrict the spending of corporations and unions for political campaigns.

In 2012, signaling what observers believed to be a new political era in Egypt, Islamist parties won 47 percent of the seats in parliamentary elections.

In 2014, a report from three former war-crimes prosecutors said they found evidence of widespread killings and torture by forces of the government of Syria. The report, which included thousands of photographs apparently smuggled out of the war-torn country, told of killings that were "systematic, ordered and directed from above."

In 2017, millions of people gathered worldwide for the Women's March protesting the election of President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated the day before. Up to 500,000 attended the Washington, D.C., event.

Advertisement

In 2018, the New England Patriots beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-20 to win the AFC Championship and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Minnesota Vikings 38-7 to win the NFC Championship. The Eagles would go on to defeat the Patriots 41-33 to win Super Bowl LII.

File Photo by Derik Hamilton/UPI

Latest Headlines