1946 – Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

1973 – The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states. This decision is subsequently overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.

2009 – U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; congressional opposition will prevent it being implemented.

1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.

1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.

2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States.

1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".

2009 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States.

2017 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America.

2021 – Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America. At the time of his inauguration, he became the oldest person ever inaugurated. Kamala Harris became the first female and first non-white Vice President of the United States.

2025 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States of America. He is currently the oldest person ever inaugurated.

1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.

1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.

1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.

1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.

1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing.

2016 – President Barack Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement intended to limit Iran's nuclear program.

1979 – Iranian Revolution: The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.

1870 – Thomas Nast publishes a political cartoon symbolizing the Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion") for Harper's Weekly.

1967 – Counterculture of the 1960s: The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco, California's Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love.

1973 – Elvis Presley's concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

1942 – Henry Ford patents a soybean car, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.

1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.

2020 – The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China.

2021 – Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior.

1915 – The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposed constitutional amendment to require states to give women the right to vote.

1932 – Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.

630 – Conquest of Mecca: Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, and the Quraysh association of clans surrenders.

1922 – Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to be injected with insulin.

1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.

1973 – Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.

2020 – COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei: Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19.

1927 – Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.

1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.

2007 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.

1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.

1835 – US President Andrew Jackson announces a celebratory dinner after having reduced the United States national debt to zero for the only time.

1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.

1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "war on poverty" in the United States.

1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.

1927 – The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London.

1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.

1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.

2021 – Incited by Donald Trump, neo-fascist rabble storm the United States Capitol Building to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in four deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.

1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.

1919 – The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich.

1953 – The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.

1967 – The Doors released their eponymous debut album.

1975 – This date overflowed the 12-bit field that had been used in TOPS-10. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed.

2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.

1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.

1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.

2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.

2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict.

2026 - United States military and law enforcement elements - on the orders of the criminal Trump regime - attack the sovereign nation of Venezuela and kidnap its president and first lady.

1920 – The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.

1921 – World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové.