January 21 in History

• 1506

  January 21, 1506:

  The Vatican welcomes the Swiss Guards as the Pope’s watchmen.

• 1789

  January 21, 1789:

  “Power of Sympathy”, a novel written by William H. Brown and considered to be the first American novel, is published.

• 1793

  January 21, 1793:

  King Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine in the French Revolution on conspiracy charges.

• 1959

  January 21, 1959:

  American actor Carl Switzer is shot to death.

• 1976

  January 21, 1976:

  The Concorde makes its first commercial flight.

• 1987

  January 21, 1987:

  Blues musician Muddy Waters is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

• 1990

  January 21, 1990:

  American tennis player John McEnroe gets disqualified from the Australian Open, making him the first player since 1963 to earn a disqualification for misconduct.

• 1997

  January 21, 1997:

  Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich becomes the first to be formally reprimanded for ethics violations.

• 2017

  January 21, 2017:

  Various cities in the world participate in the Women’s March to support the larger one in the US protesting equality and civil right challenges the country was likely to experience under Donald Trump’s administration.

• 2020

  January 21, 2020:

  The United States confirms its first case of the novel and deadly coronavirus disease.