HISTORY TODAY: October 13

1792

President George Washington lays the cornerstone for the White House.

54		Nero succeeds his great uncle Claudius, who was murdered by his wife, as the new emperor of Rome.
1307		Members of the Knights Templar are arrested throughout France, imprisoned and tortured by the order of King Philip the Fair of France.
1399		Henry IV of England is crowned.
1670		Virginia passes a law that blacks arriving in the colonies as Christians cannot be used as slaves.
1775		The Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy). The main goal of the navy is to intercept shipments of British matériel and generally disrupt British maritime commercial operations. [From MHQ—The Quarterly Journal of Military History]
1776		Benedict Arnold is defeated at Lake Champlain.
1792		President George Washington lays the cornerstone for the White House.
1812		At the Battle of Queenston Heights, a Canadian and British army defeats the Americans who have tried to invade Canada.
1849		The California state constitution, which prohibits slavery, is signed in Monterey.
1942		In the first of four attacks, two Japanese battleships sail down the slot and shell Henderson field on Guadalcanal, in an unsuccessful effort to destroy the American Cactus Air Force.
1943		Italy declares war on Germany.
1944		Troops of the advancing Soviet Army occupy Riga, the capital of Latvia.
1946		The Fourth Republic begins in France; it will continue to 1958.
1972		Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes Mountains, near the Argentina-Chile border; only 16 survivors (out of 45 people aboard) are rescued on Dec. 23.
1983		The Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying seven, the largest crew to date, lands safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
1990		The Lebanese Civil War ends when a Syrian attack removes Gen. Michel Aoun from power.
Born on October 13
1784		Ferdinand VII, king of Spain.
1817		William Kirby, Canadian writer.
1853		Lillie Langtry, British actress.
1890		Conrad Richter, novelist and short story writer.
1907		Yves Allégret, French film director (Dédée d’Anvers, Une si jolie petite plage).
1909		Herblock (Herbert Lawrence Block), multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist.
1910		Ernest Kellogg Gann, pilot and adventure novelist (Island in the Sky, The High and Mighty).
1910		Art Tatum, American jazz pianist.
1925		Margaret Thatcher, the first female UK prime minister (1979-1990).
1926		Ray Brown, jazz bass player.
1930		Bruce Geller, screenwriter, producer, actor; won two Emmys as the writer, producer and director of the Mission Impossible TV series.
1939		Melinda Dillon, actress, best known for her role as Ralphie’s mother in the TV classic A Christmas Story (1983).
1941		Paul Simon, singer, songwriter, musician, producer; rose to fame as half of the Simon & Garfunkel duo; to date (2013) he has received 12 Grammys including a Lifetime Achievement Award (2001); Time magazine included him in its 2006 special “100 People Who Shaped the World.”
1947		Sammy Hagar, “The Red Rocker,” singer, songwriter, musician; replaced David Lee Roth as lead singer of the band Van Halen.
1959		Marie Osmond, singer (“Paper Roses”), songwriter, actress; co-hosted TV variety show Donny & Marie with her brother Donny (1976-79).
1960		Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary for Pres. George W. Bush (2001-03).
1967		Kate Walsh, actress (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice TV series).
1969		Nancy Kerrigan, figure skater; won Olympic bronze (1992) and silver (1994) medals; US National Champion 1993; on Jan. 6, 1994, she was clubbed on the knee in an attack intended to aid one of her skating rivals.

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