This Day in U.S. Coast Guard History – January 20

1914- International Ice Patrol Convention signed.

1961- During his inaugural parade, President John F. Kennedy noticed that there were no African-Americans in the Coast Guard Academy cadet unit marching in the parade.  He told his speechwriter, Richard Goodwin, "That's not acceptable.  Something ought to be done about it."  Goodwin called Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon the next day and Dillon ordered the Academy "to scrutinize the Academy's recruitment policy to make sure it did not discriminate against blacks."

1984-Coast Guard units responded to a six-alarm fire along Boston's waterfront.  The fire began early on the morning of 20 January on the Boston and Maine Railroad Bridge directly behind Boston Garden and North Station.  The Boston Fire Department requested Coast Guard assistance and MSO Boston coordinated the response.  Small boats from Station Boston responded while personnel from ATON Team Boston, Support Center Boston, Point Allerton Station, and CGCs Pendant, Chase, White Heath, Nantucket I and Nantucket II also assisted.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)