Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2011. There are 345 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1801: Secretary of State John Marshall is nominated by President John Adams to be chief justice of the United States (he is sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801).

1841: The island of Hong Kong is ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returns to Chinese control in July 1997.)

1936: Britain’s King George V dies; he is succeeded by Edward VIII.

1937: President Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.

1961: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States; in his inaugural address, Kennedy declares, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

1981: Iran releases 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: JoAnn Bowshot of Meadowbrook Avenue puts more than 1,200 hours into creating a “Liberty Quilt” that is entered in the Great American Quilt Contest honoring the Statue of Liberty.

Acting on a tip from the Columbiana County Prosecutor’s Office, sheriff’s deputy and juvenile officer Dane Walton goes to the Rogers flea market where he arrests a vendor after buying a set of brass knuckles and a switchblade knife from him.

1971: Following the lead of other steelmakers, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. raises the price of structural steel and plates by $12 per ton.

The Rev. Hugh Gunn, pastor of Poland United Presbyterian Church, is honored by the Poland Firemen’s Association for his years of service as a volunteer fireman.

1961: Youngstown Law Director S.S. Fekett orders the East Ohio Gas Co. to stop issuing estimated bills. The city’s contract calls for monthly readings of meters, he says.

The Youngstown Fire Department ambulance is heavily damaged in a six-vehicle crash at Market Street and Woodland Avenue. Six people are injured, including three firemen.

1936: Three leading Youngstown clergymen will make radio appeals for donations to the $100,000 emergency drive for the Youngstown Hospital and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. They are the Rev. William A. Kane, pastor of St. Patrick Church; the Rev. Joseph Trainor, pastor of St. Columba Church, and the Rev. J. I. Moore, pastor of Tabernacle U.P. Church.