January 19 is:
National Popcorn Day Although popcorn is typically thought of as a snack food today, popcorn was once a popular breakfast food. Ahead of its time and very likely a role model for breakfast cereals to come, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, popcorn was eaten just as we eat cereal today.
Birthday of James Watt (January 19, 1736), Scottish engineer and inventor who developed a separate condensing vessel for the steam engine.
Publication of Federalist Paper #41: General View of the Powers Conferred by The Constitution written by James Madison in 1788. Federalist No. 41 – 46 examine the powers given to the general government and address concerns about the divisions of powers.
Madison looks at the powers given to the federal government under the Constitution and asks if these powers are necessary and proper; he then examines if these powers in the aggregate are dangerous to the individual states. He examines the meaning of “general welfare”.
Robert E Lee Day (January 19, 1807), Birthday of Robert Edward Lee, American soldier, commander of the army of Northern Virginia; Honored on this date in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial is in Arlington, Virginia, and was once Lee’s home. It overlooks the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to return to his home.
Birthday of Edgar Allen Poe (January 19, 1809), American poet, short-story writer. Wrote “Annabelle Lee”.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
Also wrote “The Raven”
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
Birthday of Paul Cézanne (1839), French artist and Post-Impressionist painter.
1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations on January 19, 1920.
1922 Geological survey says US oil supply would be depleted in 20 years.
1935 – Coopers Inc. in Chicago sells the world’s first briefs. Originally called the “Jockey”, 30,000 pairs were sold within three months of their introduction.
On Jan. 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
1977 – Snow fell in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen.
1978- The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America would continue until 2003.
1981 US and Iran sign agreement to release 52 American hostages.
The Apple Lisa (1983), the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
1862 John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States, died in Richmond, Va., at age 71. Tyler was the first Vice-President to ascend to the Presidency upon the death of the President, William Henry Harrison. He fathered more children than any other president – eight with his first wife and seven with his second wife. When Civil War broke out, Tyler sided with the Confederacy and his death was not officially recognized in Washington, D.C. His coffin was draped with the Confederate Flag.
Winnie the Pooh Day -The Birthday of Winnie’s author A.A. Milne (1882)
Birthday of Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892), American comic movie actor, one-half of the famed Laurel & Hardy team. He was born Norvell Hardy and added his father’s name “Oliver” to his own prior to 1910.
Birthday of Cary Grant, (January 18, 1904), actor, born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England.
Birthday of Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky) (January 18, 1913), American actor/comedian/dancer whose performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes and rapid-fire nonsense songs. See 
Birthday of Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706), Founding Father of America. He was a leading printer, statesman, inventor and diplomat. Author of “Poor Richard’s Almanac“. Inventor of the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, and a carriage odometer. 
1893 
1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
Birthday of Michelle Obama (January 17, 1964), wife of Barack Obama; First Lady 2009-Jan 20, 2017.
Actress Carole Lombard, age 33, died in a plane crash near Las Vegas in 1942. She had been married to Clark Gable.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force in London in 1944.
On Jan. 15, 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Baptist minister who led the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and ’60’s with his doctrine of nonviolent resistance, was born. 
1943 – The Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, was dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
Birthday of Benedict Arnold (January 14, 1741), American patriot/traitor.
Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey. She was the last Tudor monarch, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Sometimes called “The Virgin Queen”. Succeeded to the throne on the death of her sister, Queen Mary. She reigned until her death in 1603. The colony of Virginia was named for her.
On this day in 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. This flag was the only U.S. Flag to have more than 13 stripes
All in the Family, the famous situation comedy premiered on CBS in 1971. Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker; Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, his wife; Sally Struthers as Gloria Stivic, their daughter; and Rob Reiner as Michael “Meathead” Stivic, Gloria’s husband. The show ran for nine seasons, ending April 8, 1979. The show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for a U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, antisemitism, infidelity, homosexuality, women’s liberation, rape, religion, miscarriages, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. 
Birthday of Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755), a founding father of the United States, chief staff aide to General George Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the U.S. Constitution, the founder of the nation’s financial system, and the founder of the first political party, first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, co-author of “The Federalist Papers”.
Grand Canyon National Monument was created in 1908.