January 19

1810 – The temperature at Portsmouth, New Hampshire drops from 54°F to minus 12°F in one day.

1817 – An army led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.

1861 – Georgia, Florida and Mississippi declare secession from the United States.

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

1915 – French engineer Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.

1937 – Howard Hughes, flying his H-1 Racer, sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.

1945 – During World War II, Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 survive the Nazi occupation.

1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.

1960 – Japan and the U.S. sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty

1977 – President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino a.k.a. Tokyo Rose

1981 – United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.

1991 – Over Iraq;
USAF Cpts Rick Tuleni and Larry Pitts flying F-15s, each engage and shootdown Iraqi MiG-25 fighters.
USAF Cpts Craig Underhill and Cesar Rodriguez, flying F-15s, each engage Iraqi MiG-29 fighters, with Underhill shooting down his MiG and Rodriguez’ dogfight maneuvers resulting in the Iraqi pilot flying into the ground in an attempt to evade him
USAF Cpt David Prather and Lt David Sveden, flying F-15s, each engage and shootdown Iraqi Mirage F1 fighters
Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.

1996 – An engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia and tank barge North Cape  ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island causing a massive spill of over 800,000 gallons of heating oil.

2013 – Retired Saint Louis Cardinal player, Stan Musial, dies, age 92, at his home in Ladue, Missouri.