March 13

Scott Winters March 13, 2024 1 Comment

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1639 – Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.

1781 – The planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel.

1852 – “Uncle Sam” debuts as a cartoon character in the New York Lantern. It was drawn by Frank Henry Bellew.

1865 – Jefferson Davis signed a bill authorizing slaves to be used as soldiers for the Confederacy.

1868 – The Senate began the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

1877 – Earmuffs were patented by Chester Greenwood, who invented them at the age of 15.

1884 – Standard time was adopted throughout the United States.

1901 – Andrew Carnegie announced his retirement from business. He spent the rest of his life giving away his fortune. His net worth was estimated at $300 million.

1911 – The Supreme Court approved corporate tax law.

1918 – Women were scheduled to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, NY due to a shortage of men due to wartime.

1925 – WBDC radio in Grand Rapids, MI signed on the air. The studios were behind the Baxter Laundry Company’s office at 707 Fountain Street. The call letters stood for “World-wide Baxter Dry Cleaning” for the laundry firm owned by State Senator Howard F. Baxter, who also owned the station. It later would become WASH and WOOD and shared the dial space.

1930 – The discovery of the planet Pluto was announced. The discovery was made by scientist Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory. It was stripped of its “planet” status in 2006.

1933 – Banks in the United States began to re-open after a “holiday” that had been declared by President Theodore Roosevelt.

1942 – Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps became the first woman colonel in the U.S. Army.

1951 – The comic strip “Dennis the Menace” appeared for the first time in newspapers.

1952 – Park Davis & Company opened the nation’s first factory to exclusively produce a synthetic antibiotic (chloromycetin) in Holland, MI.

1957 – Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa was arrested by the FBI on bribery charges.

1961 – Barbie’s long-term on-off boyfriend, Ken Carson, first appeared on the scene. He was exhibited by Mattel at a toy fair.

1969 – Apollo 9 astronauts returned to Earth after a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.

1970 – Digital Equipment Corp. introduced the PDP-11 minicomputer.

1972 – TV’s “The Merv Griffin Show” debuted in syndication for Metromedia Television.

1974 – The Senate voted 54-33 to restore the death penalty.

1980 – A jury in Winamac, IN, found Ford Motor Company innocent of reckless homicide in the deaths of three young women that had been riding in a Ford Pinto.

1984 – MTV premiered its weekly “Top 20 Video Countdown” television show.

1987 – Bryan Adams’ song “Heat of the Night” became the first commercially released cassette single (cassingle) in the U.S.

1987 – Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1991 – Exxon agreed to pay $1 billion in fines and for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill of the Exxon Valdez.

1997 – The unidentified Phoenix lights were seen over Phoenix, AZ by hundreds of people and millions on television.

2002 – Fox aired “Celebrity Boxing” on television. Among the matches were Tonya Harding beating Paula Jones, Danny Bonaduce defeating Barry Williams and Todd Bridges stopping Vanilla Ice.

2003 – The journal “Nature” reported that footprints, that were 350,000 years old, had been found in Italy made by an upright-walking human.

2005 – Kelly A. Frank was arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap David Letterman’s son, Harry, from the talk show host’s ranch in Montana. Letterman had hired Frank as a painter.

2006 – In New York, NY, construction began on the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

2006 – Scientologist Isaac Hayes, who voiced the character of “Chef” for almost a decade on Comedy Central’s “South Park”, asked to be released from his contract citing inappropriate ridicule of religious communities.

2008 – On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold prices hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.

2012 – “The Hunger Games” movie premiered in theaters.

2012 – After 244 years of publication, Encyclopædia Britannica announced it would discontinue its print edition.

2013 – Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was announced as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. He would be known as Pope Francis.

2020 – President Donald Trump declared a National Emergency over the coronavirus (COVID-19). As much as $50 billion would be spent to fight the illness.

BIRTHDAYS:

Roy Haynes – 99 years old (1925) – Jazz drummer

Neil Sedaka – 85 years old (1939) – Singer, songwriter

William H. Macy – 74 years old (1950) – Actor (“Fargo”, “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, “Boogie Nights”, “Pleasantville”, “Psycho”, “Magnolia”, “Jurassic Park 3”, “The Cooler”, TV’s “Shameless”)

Robin Duke – 70 years old (1954) – Comedian (TV’s “SCTV”, “Saturday Night Live”, “Schitt’s Creek”)

Dana Delany – 68 years old (1956) – Actress (TV’s “China Beach”, “Body of Proof”, “Desperate Housewives”)

Adam Clayton – 64 years old (1960) – Bass guitarist (U2)

Terence Blanchard – 62 years old (1962) – Jazz trumpeter

Christopher Collet – 56 years old (1968) – Actor (“Firstborn”, “The Manhattan Project”)

Annabeth Gish – 53 years old (1971) – Actress (“The Celestine Prophecy”, “Mystic Pizza”, TV’s “The Bridge”, “Brotherhood”, “The West Wing”)

Tracy Wells – 53 years old (1971) – Actress (TV’s “Mr. Belvedere”, “Growing Pains”, “Silver Spoons”)

Trent Dilfer – 52 years old (1972) – Football player, analyst (ESPN)

Glenn Lewis – 49 years old (1975) – Singer (“Don’t You Forget It”, “It’s Not Fair”)

Danny Masterson – 48 years old (1976) – Actor (TV’s “That ’70s Show”, “The Ranch”)

Natalie & Nicole Albino – 40 years old (1984) – Singers (Nina Sky)

Emile Hirsch – 39 years old (1985) – Actor (“Taking Woodstock”, “Milk”, “Into the Wild”, “Alpha Dog”, “Lords of Dogtown”, “Imaginary Heroes”, “The Girl Next Door”)