Friday, November 13th
The 317th day of 2009.
There are 48 days left in the year.
Go to a previous date.
Go to lesson
Today's Highlights in History
.
On Nov. 13, 1956, the Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses. (Go to article.)
On Nov. 13, 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author best known for his novel "Treasure Island", was born. Following his death on Dec. 3, 1894, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On November 13, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1775 U.S. forces captured Montreal during the American Revolution.
1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
1856 Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis was born in Louisville, Ky.
1927 The Holland Tunnel linking New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River opened to the public.
1942 The minimum draft age was lowered from 21 to 18.
1969 Vice President Spiro T. Agnew accused network TV news departments of bias and distortion, and urged viewers to lodge complaints.
1974 Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash.
1977 The comic strip "Li'l Abner" by Al Capp appeared in newspapers for the last time.
1979 Former California Gov. Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1985 A mudslide triggered by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano buried the city of Armero, Colombia, killing some 23,000 people.
1997 The Disney musical "The Lion King" opened on Broadway.
1998 President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000, ending the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit that spurred impeachment proceedings against him. Clinton did not admit guilt.
2001 Afghanistan's ruling Taliban abandoned the capital Kabul without a fight, allowing U.S.-backed northern alliance fighters to take over the city.
2002 Saddam Hussein's government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq.
2003 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had refused to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, was thrown off the bench by a judicial ethics panel for having "placed himself above the law."
Current Birthdays
Chris Noth turns 55 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini Actor Chris Noth ("Law and Order," "Sex and the City") turns 55 years old today.
87 Madeleine Sherwood
Actress
75 Peter Arnett
Journalist
75 Garry Marshall
Producer, director
68 Jimmy Hawkins
Actor
63 Ray Wylie Hubbard
Country singer, songwriter
62 Joe Mantegna
Actor
61 Sheila Frazier
Actress
56 Frances Conroy
Actress ("Six Feet Under")
56 Andrew Ranken
Rock musician ("The Pogues")
56 Tracy Scoggins
Actress
53 Rex Linn
Actor ("CSI: Miami")
50 Caroline Goodall
Actress
49 Neil Flynn
Actor ("Scrubs")
46 Vinny Testaverde
Football player
45 Walter Kibby
Rock musician (Fishbone)
42 Jimmy Kimmel
Comedian, talk show host ("Jimmy Kimmel Live")
42 Steve Zahn
Actor
34 Aisha Hinds
Actress ("True Blood," "Hawthorne")
31 Nikolai Fraiture
Rock musician (The Strokes)
29 Monique Coleman
Actress ("High School Musical")
Historic Birthdays
Robert Louis Stevenson
11/13/1850 - 12/3/1894
Scottish writer
(Go to obit.)
75 Saint Augustine
11/13/354 - 8/28/430
Roman bishop and theologian
64 Edward III
11/13/1312 - 6/21/1377
English king (1327-77)
56 Johann Eck
11/13/1486 - 2/10/1543
German theologian
88 Edward Trelawny
11/13/1792 - 8/13/1881
English author
59 Edwin Booth
11/13/1833 - 6/7/1893
American actor
84 Louis Brandeis
11/13/1856 - 10/5/1941
American jurist; associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1916-39)
37 Mary Henrietta Kingsley
11/13/1862 - 6/3/1900
English traveler and writer
40 Jean Seberg
11/13/1938 - 9/8/1979
American actress
Go to a previous date.
SOURCE: The Associated Press
Front Page Image Provided by UMI
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Children's Privacy Notice