What Happened This Day In History - November 13

Today in History

November 13

1474		In the Swiss-Burgundian Wars, Swiss infantry shatters the army of Charles the Bold at Hericourt near Belfort, countering his march to Lorraine.
1835		Texans officially proclaim independence from Mexico, and calls itself the Lone Star Republic, after its flag, until its admission to the Union in 1845.
1851		The London-to-Paris telegraph begins operation.
1860		South Carolina’s legislature calls a special convention to discuss secession from the Union.
1862		Lewis Carroll writes in his diary, “Began writing the fairy-tale of Alice–I hope to finish it by Christmas.”
1878		New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace offers amnesty to many participants of the Lincoln County War, but not to gunfighter Billy the Kid.
1897		The first metal dirigible is flown from Tempelhof Field in Berlin.
1907		Paul Corno achieves the first helicopter flight.
1914		The brassiere, invented by Caresse Crosby, is patented.
1927		New York’s Holland Tunnel officially opens for traffic.
1940		U.S. Supreme Court rules in Hansberry v. Lee that African Americans cannot be barred from white neighborhoods.
1941		A German U-boat, the U-81 torpedoes Great Britain’s premier aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal. The ship sinks the next day.
1942		Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower flies to Algeria to conclude an agreement with French Admiral Jean Darlan..
1945		Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France.
1952		Harvard’s Paul Zoll becomes the first man to use electric shock to treat cardiac arrest.
1956		The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously strikes down two Alabama laws requiring racial segregation on public buses.
1969		Anti-war protesters stage a symbolic “March Against Death” in Washington, DC.
1970		A powerful tropical cyclone strikes the Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), causing an estimated half-million deaths in a single night; the Bhola cyclone is regarded as the worst natural disaster of the 20th century.
1982		The Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated in Washington, DC.
1985		Some 23,000 people die when the Nevado del Ruiz erupts, melting a glacier and causing a massive mudslide that buries Armero, Columbia.
1989		Compact of Free Association: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau—places US troops wrested from Japanese control in WWII—become sovereign nations, associated states of the United States.
1989		Hans-Adam II becomes Prince of Liechtenstein (1989– ) upon the death of his father, Franz Joseph II.
2000		Articles of impeachment passed against Philippine President Joseph Estrada.
2001		US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to planned or actual terrorist acts against the US.
Born on November 13
354		Saint Augustine, Christian theologian and philosopher.
1312		Edward III, King of England who won victories against such renowned foes as Baybars, Llewellyn and Wallace.
1850		Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and poet (Treasure Island,Kidnapped).
1856		Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1909		Eugene Ionesco, Romanian-born dramatist; a leading playwright of the Theater of the Absurd genre (The Bald Soprano, Rhinoceros).
1911		John Jordan “Buck” O’Neill, first African American coach in Major League Baseball; previously, he was a first baseman and manager in the Negro League.
1924		Motoo Kimura, Japanese biologist who introduced the neutral theory of molecular evolution (1968).
1934		Garry Marshall, actor, director, producer; created Happy Days TV series and its spinoffs.
1940		William Taubman, political scientist, author; won Pulitzer Prize for biography (2004) for his biography of Nikita Khrushchev.
1947		Joe Mantegna, actor, producer, director, voice actor (The Godfather Part III;Criminal Minds TV series; voice of mob boss Fat Tony on The Simpsons).
1955		Whoopi Goldberg,comedian,  actress (The Color Purple; Ghost), singer, talk show host (The View); second African American woman to win an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress, Ghost, 1990); one of few entertainers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy.