20 January

January 20 2009 – Barack Obama Takes the Oath of Office

January 20 2009 – Barack Obama Takes the Oath of Office5 (100%) 1 vote Just shy of 200 years after the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the “unfinished work” he mentioned in the Gettysburg Address came a little closer to being fulfilled with the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States on January 20, 2009. Set against the backdrop of the US Capitol Building on a cold Tuesday afternoon in Washington, DC, the former Senator from Illinois accepted his historic position. Obama’s rise to the Oval Office began, by most accounts, at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. With a stirring speech appealing […]

January 20 1936 – King Edward VIII Begins His Short-Lived Reign Of England

January 20 1936 – King Edward VIII Begins His Short-Lived Reign Of England5 (100%) 1 vote On January 20, 1936, Edward VIII became king of the United Kingdom. He ascended the throne following the death of his father, George V. Edward’s reign lasted for less than a year, making it one of the shortest in the history of British monarchs. Edward’s scant regard for established traditions, royal codes, and protocol made him unpopular with the Church, the ministers, and member of royalty in the United Kingdom. He abdicated the throne by end-1936 in order to marry the American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Thereafter, he spent most of his life in France […]