July 13

Today in History - July 13

Today is Sunday, July 13, the 195th day of 2008. There are 171 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 13, 1793, French revolutionary writer Jean-Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, who was executed four days later.

On this date:

In 1787, Congress enacted an ordinance governing the Northwest Territory.

In 1863, deadly rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City.

In 1878, the Treaty of Berlin amended the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which had ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

In 1886, Father Edward Joseph Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town, was born in County Roscommon, Ireland.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic presidential nomination at his party's convention in Los Angeles.

In 1967, race-related rioting that claimed some two dozen lives broke out in Newark, N.J.

In 1972, George McGovern claimed the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Miami Beach, Fla.

In 1977, a blackout lasting 25 hours hit the New York City area.

In 1978, Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II.

In 1985, "Live Aid," an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, Australia, took place to raise money for Africa's starving people.

Ten years ago: A jury in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., ruled that the Rev. Al Sharpton and two others had defamed a former prosecutor by accusing him of raping Tawana Brawley. (Pagones won a $345,000 judgment.) Four young cousins in Gallup, N.M., died after becoming trapped in a car trunk.

Five years ago: With the blessing of U.S. administrators, Iraqis inaugurated a broadly representative governing council. Cuban musician Compay Segundo died in Havana at age 95.

One year ago: Former media mogul Conrad Black was convicted in Chicago of swindling the far-flung Hollinger International newspaper empire he once ran out of millions of dollars. (Black is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.) Family prayer services and a huge public outpouring in Austin, Texas, ushered in three days of memorial ceremonies honoring the late Lady Bird Johnson.

Today's Birthdays: Former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp is 73. Actor Patrick Stewart is 68. Actor Robert Forster is 67. Actor Harrison Ford is 66. Singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) is 66. Actor-comedian Cheech Marin is 62. Actress Daphne Maxwell Reid is 60. Actress Didi Conn is 57. Singer Louise Mandrell is 54. Actor-director Cameron Crowe is 51. Tennis player Anders Jarryd is 47. Rock musician Gonzalo Martinez De La Cotera (Marcy Playground) is 46. Country singer-songwriter Victoria Shaw is 46. Bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent is 46. Actor Michael Jace is 43. Country singer Neil Thrasher is 43. Singer Deborah Cox is 35. Rock musician Will Champion (Coldplay) is 30.

Thought for Today: "If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never." — Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813-1855).