TODAY HISTORY IN Today’s Highlight in History: On this date:
Today is Monday, April 13, the 104th day of 2020. There are 262 days left in the year.
On April 13, 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.”
■ In 1743, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony.
■ In 1860, the Pony Express completed its inaugural run from St. Joseph, Mo. to Sacramento, Calif. in 10 days.
■ In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces.
■ In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. on the 200th anniversary of the third American president’s birth.
■ In 1970, Apollo 13, fourfifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.)
■ In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of worship.
■ In 1992, the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city’s century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River. “The Bridges of Madison County,” a romance novel by Robert James Waller, was published by Warner Books.
■ In 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament and the first player of partly African heritage to claim a major golf title.
■ In 1999, right-to-die advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Michigan, to 10 to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder in the lethal injection of a Lou Gehrig’s disease patient. (Kevorkian ended up serving eight years.)
■ In 2005, a defiant Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks in back-to-back court appearances in Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta.
■ In 2006, confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui expressed no remorse for his role in the 9/11 attacks as he took the stand for the second time in his death-penalty trial in Alexandria, Virginia.
Ten years ago: World leaders concluded a 47-nation nuclear security conference in Washington, endorsing President Barack Obama’s call for securing all of the globe’s vulnerable nuclear materials within four years, but offering few specifics for achieving that goal. First lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden paid a surprise visit to Haiti, the scene of a devastating earthquake three months earlier.
Five years ago: Republican Sen. Marco Rubio entered the 2016 presidential race with a rally in Miami. A federal judge in Washington sentenced former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison and three others to 30-year terms for their roles in a 2007
shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others.
One year ago: Leaders of Morehouse College in Atlanta, the country’s only all-male historically black college, said the school would begin admitting transgender men under a policy change approved by the board of trustees.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is 87. Actor Edward Fox is 83. Actor Paul Sorvino is
81. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lester Chambers is 80. MovieTV composer Bill Conti is 78. Rock musician Jack Casady is 76. Actor Tony Dow is 75. Singer Al Green is 74. Actor Ron Perlman is 70. Actor William Sadler is 70. Singer Peabo Bryson is 69. Bandleader/ rock musician Max Weinberg is 69. Bluegrass singer-musician Sam Bush is 68. Rock musician Jimmy Destri is 66. Comedian Gary Kroeger is 63. Actress Saundra Santiago is
63. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., is 60. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 57. Actresscomedian Caroline Rhea is 56. Rock musician Lisa Umbarger is 55. Rock musician Marc Ford is 54. Actor Ricky Schroder is
50. Actor Bokeem Woodbine is
47. Singer Lou Bega is 45. Actor Kyle Howard is 42. Actress Kelli Giddish is 40. Actress Courtney Peldon is 39. Baseball outfielder Hunter Pence is 37. Actress Allison Williams is 32. Actress Hannah Marks is 27.
Thought for Today: “In the landscape of extinction, precision is next to godliness.” — Samuel Beckett, Irish poet and playwright (born this date in 1906, died 1989).