Today is Sunday, Oct. 13, the 286th day of 2019. There are 79 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On Oct. 13, 1775, the United States Navy had its origins as the Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.
On this date:
In 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid by President George Washington during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.
In 1845, Texas voters ratified a state constitution.
In 1943, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.
In 1944, during World War II, American troops entered Aachen, Germany.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon held the third televised debate of their presidential campaign (Nixon was in Los Angeles, Kennedy in New York).
In 1962, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, by Edward Albee, opened on Broadway.
In 1972, a Uruguayan chartered flight carrying 45 people crashed in the Andes; survivors resorted to feeding off the remains of some of the dead in order to stay alive until they were rescued more than two months later.
In 1974, longtime television host Ed Sullivan died in New York City at age 73.
In 1981, voters in Egypt participated in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
In 1999, the Senate rejected the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, with 48 senators voting in favor and 51 against, far short of the 67 needed for ratification.
In 2003, The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution expanding the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
In 2010, rescuers in Chile using a missile-like escape capsule pulled 33 men one by one to fresh air and freedom 69 days after they were trapped in a collapsed mine a half-mile underground.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Melinda Dillon is 80. Singer-musician Paul Simon is 78. Actress Pamela Tiffin is 77. Musician Robert Lamm (Chicago) is 75. Singer-musician Sammy Hagar is 72. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is 61. Singer/TV personality Marie Osmond is 60. Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is 59. Actress Kelly Preston is 57. Olympic silver medal figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is 50. TV personality Billy Bush is 48. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is 48. Former NBA All-Star Paul Pierce is 42. DJ Vice is 41. Singer Ashanti (is 39. R&B singer Lumidee is 39. Olympic gold medal swimmer Ian Thorpe is 37. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is 30. Actor Caleb McLaughlin (TV: “Stranger Things”) is 18.
Thought for today: “A hero is a man who is afraid to run away.” — English proverb.
— Associated Press
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