Today in History
Today is Thursday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2021. There are 232 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 13, 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).
On this date:
In 1568, forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots were defeated by troops under her half-brother and Regent of Scotland, the Earl of Moray, in the Battle of Langside, thwarting Mary’s attempt to regain power almost a year after she was forced to abdicate.
In 1914, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis was born in Lafayette, Alabama.
In 1917, three shepherd children reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary near Fatima, Portugal; it was the first of six such apparitions that the children claimed to have witnessed.
In 1940, in his first speech as British prime minister, Winston Churchill told Parliament, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
In 1961, actor Gary Cooper died in Los Angeles six days after turning 60.
In 1967, a vault fire at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Culver City, California, destroyed hundreds of the studio’s early films.
In 1972, 118 people died after fire broke out at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka, Japan.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca (MEH’-met AH’-lee AH’-juh).
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group’s row house, igniting a fire that killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun; Breyer went on to win Senate confirmation.
In 2002, President George W. Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin (POO’-tihn) would sign a treaty to shrink their countries’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.
Ten years ago: Two suicide bombers attacked paramilitary police recruits heading home after months of training in northwest Pakistan, killing 87 people in what the Pakistan Taliban called revenge for the U.S. slaying of Osama bin Laden. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi taunted NATO in an audio broadcast, saying he was alive despite a series of airstrikes and “in a place where you can’t get to and kill me.”
Five years ago: The Obama administration issued a directive requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity. President Barack Obama hosted a state dinner honoring the leaders of Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Norway, following a multilateral summit that Obama used to laud the Nordic states as model global citizens on climate change, security, humanitarian efforts and economic equality.
One year ago: President Donald Trump urged governors to work to reopen schools that were closed because of the coronavirus; he took issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s caution against moving too quickly in returning students to class. The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ coronavirus stay-at-home order, ruling that his administration had overstepped its authority by extending the order for another month. An American cargo pilot, Brian Yeargan, was sentenced to four weeks in prison in Singapore for violating coronavirus restrictions by leaving his hotel to buy masks and a thermometer. Michigan regulators suspended the license of barber Karl Menke, who insisted on cutting hair despite an order to stay closed during the pandemic. Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman who was convicted as part of the special counsel’s Russia probe, was released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence at home due to concerns about the coronavirus.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Buck Taylor is 83. Actor Harvey Keitel is 82. Author Charles Baxter is 74. Actor Zoe Wanamaker is 73. Actor Franklyn Ajaye is 72. Singer Stevie Wonder is 71. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (KAY’-sihk) is 69. Actor Leslie Winston is 65. Producer-writer Alan Ball is 64. Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is 60. “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert (kohl-BEHR’) is 57. Rock musician John Richardson (The Gin Blossoms) is 57. Actor Tom Verica is 57. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 55. Actor Susan Floyd is 53. Actor Brian Geraghty is 46. Actor Samantha Morton is 44. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is 44. Former NBA player Mike Bibby is 43. Rock musician Mickey Madden (Maroon 5) is 42. Actor Iwan Rheon is 36. Actor-writer-director Lena Dunham is 35. Actor Robert Pattinson is 35. Actor Candice Accola King is 34. Actor Hunter Parrish is 34. Folk-rock musician Wylie Gelber (Dawes) is 33. NHL defenseman P.K. Subban is 33. Actor Debby Ryan is 28.
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