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Today in History: January 20

1783 Britain signs a peace agreement with France and Spain, who allied against it in the American War of Independence.

1908 The Sullivan Ordinance bars women from smoking in public facilities in the United States.

1935 Belgium arrests some Nazi agitators who urge for a return to the Reich.

1941 Hitler meets with Mussolini and offers aid in Albania and Greece.

1942 Nazi officials meet in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to decide the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."

1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for his fourth term.

1954 Over 22,000 anti-Communist prisoners are turned over to UN forces in Korea.

1977 President Jimmy Carter is sworn in and then surprises the nation as he walks from the U.S. Capitol to the White House.

1981 Ronald Reagan is sworn in as president at the same time 52 American hostages are released from their captors in Tehran, Iran.

Born on January 20

1896 George Burns, comedian and actor in vaudeville, radio, television and film.

1930 Dr. Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, second man to walk on the moon.

JOTD
A man dies and goes to hell.

Once there, he finds that there is a different hell for each country, so he tries to seek out the least painful one.
At the door to German Hell, he is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."
He does not like the sound of that, so he checks out American Hell, Russian Hell and many more. They are all similarly gruesome. However, at Nigerian Hell a long line of people is waiting to get in. Amazed, he asks, "What do they do here?"
He is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the Nigerian devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."
"But that's the same as the others," says the man. "Why are so many people waiting to get in?"
"Because of the power cuts, the electric chair does not work. The nails were paid for but never supplied, so the bed is comfortable. And the Nigerian devil used to be a civil servant, so he comes in, signs his time sheet and goes back home for private business.