On This Day in History - January 19th - Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 19, the 19th day of 2021 with 346 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Scottish engineer James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, in 1736; Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in 1807; American short story writer/poet Edgar Allan Poe in 1809; French post-Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne in 1839; Ebony magazine founder John H. Johnson in 1918; former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar in 1920; author Patricia Highsmith in 1921; actor Jean Stapleton in 1923; actor Tippi Hedren in 1930 (age 91); television newscaster Robert MacNeil in 1931 (age 90); singer Phil Everly in 1939; British stage singer/actor Michael Crawford in 1942 (age 79); singer Janis Joplin in 1943; actor Shelley Fabares in 1944 (age 77); singer Dolly Parton in 1946 (age 75); chef Paula Deen in 1947 (age 74); singer/actor Desi Arnaz Jr. in 1953 (age 68); artist Cindy Sherman in 1954 (age 67); actor Katey Sagal in 1954 (age 67); comedian Paul Rodriguez in 1955 (66); painter Thomas Kinkade in 1958; author Edwidge Danticat in 1969 (age 52); actor Shawn Wayans in 1971 (age 50); comedian Frank Caliendo in 1974 (age 47); actor Jodie Sweetin in 1982 (age 39); Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary nominee, in 1982 (age 39); filmmaker Damien Chazelle in 1985 (age 36); U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson in 1992 (age 29); rapper Mac Miller, born Malcolm James McCormick, in 1992; actor Logan Lerman in 1992 (age 29).

On this date in history:

In 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy.

In 1920, threats against the life of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, because of his activities in suppressing criminal radicalism, led officials to take every precaution to guard the head of the Justice Department.

In 1938, the Spanish Nationalist air force bombed Barcelona and Valencia, killing 700 civilians and wounding hundreds more.

In 1961, President Eisenhower met with his successor, John F. Kennedy, to complete plans for the transition of power. Both met privately at first before conferring with the incoming and outgoing secretaries of State, Treasury and Defense.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.

In 1975, China published a new Constitution that adopted the precepts and policies of Mao Zedong.

In 1977, U.S. President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who had been convicted of treason for her World War II Japanese propaganda broadcasts as Tokyo Rose.

In 1983, police in Bolivia arrested Klaus Barbie, the so-called Butcher of Lyons. Barbie was a Nazi Gestapo chief accused of for the capture, torture and deaths of thousands of Jewish people and French resistance workers in Lyon, France.

In 1995, Russian forces captured the presidential palace in the rebel republic of Chechnya.

In 2007, former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, the only member of Congress to plead guilty in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Ney was released after 17 months.

In 2020, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers to win the NFC Championship Game and the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game. The 49ers and Chiefs faced off in Super Bowl LIV two weeks later.

A thought for the day: "You're all you've got." -- American singer Janis Joplin