Today in history:

1981

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

Also on this date:

1841

The island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.

1936

Britain’s King George V died after his physician injected the mortally ill monarch with morphine and cocaine to hasten his death. The king was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne 11 months later to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

1937

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in for his second term as president, becoming the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20; prior to the adoption of the 20th Amendment in 1933, presidential terms began on March 4.

1961

In his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy urged Americans, “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

1986

The United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

2009

Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation’s first Black president.

2011

Federal authorities orchestrated one of the biggest Mafia takedowns in FBI history, charging 127 suspected mobsters and associates in the Northeast with murders, extortion and other crimes spanning decades.

2017

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, as protesters registered their rage against the new president in a chaotic confrontation with police just blocks from the inaugural parade.